Best Dressed at the Oscars

There weren't a lot of wows on the Oscars red carpet this year. Not a lot of color. Wah-wah. But these ladies looked amazing.

1.) Jessica Chastain

My favorite of the night. I was hoping she would walk out of there with a statue, but I guess she'll have to settle for being on top of everyone's best dressed list. I need to go out and buy a bunch of shirts that match my hair!

2.) Stacy Keibler and Amy Adams

Love, love, love. I really wish one of the nominees would've worn this. I think Amy Adams would've rocked it. Actually, it looks a little similar to Amy's awesome after party dress, which I liked much, much more than her ceremony dress.

3.) Halle Berry

'80s in all the right ways.

4.) Naomi Watts

At first, I wasn't sold on this one. I'm not a huge fan of asymmetry, but this one really grew on me over the course of the night. Maybe because there weren't enough risks taken and this one seemed like an edgy choice. Love the unique silver-green-blue color as well.

5.) Jennifer Garner

She pulled off the trifecta this awards season. This isn't the best of her three dresses, but the color is amazing. The necklace is fabulous. The ruffles sprouting out the back are so over-the-top that they're fun.

She's a fluffy triceratops.

Honorable Mention:

Jennifer Lawrence

I'm not a huge fan of the giant Dior. And on a night when everyone was completely bent out of shape over Anne Hathaway's darts, but no one seemed to care about the lumpy-bumpiness going on near Jennifer's Lawrence's bust line. Seriously, am I the only one who saw this? I couldn't get past it, just looked so sloppy to me. Other than that, the dress is pretty, puffy, a little too bridal for me. If it would've been a color, I might have loved it.

Man, it is a dress, though. Props for her being able to wear it and it not wearing her. I love this photo.

I much prefer the dress she wore the night before to the Independent Spirit Awards.

It walks the line between sexy and vulgar, yet never tiptoes into v-town.

I love the back shot. She's all, yeah, we all know I'm gonna win, and I'm gonna win tomorrow, too. And I give good back.

Best Dressed at the SAG Awards 2012

Three ladies knocked it out of the park.

1.) Amanda Seyfried

She has never looked better. The gorgeous blue against her pale skin. The beautiful makeup. The to-die-for hair. She looks perfect.

2.) Marion Cotillard

She's one of the most beautiful people on the planet, and probably the only person I would like this dress on. It suits her fashion sense perfectly.

3.) Jennifer Garner

She is killing it this awards season. I can't wait to see what she wears to the Oscars, even though Ben isn't nominated, sniff.

Best Dressed at the Golden Globes 2012

So many pretty dresses came out to the Golden Globes this year. I narrowed it down to my six favorite looks of the night, in no particular order.

1.) Julia Louis-Dreyfus

This is not a dress that I would normally gravitate towards, but she looked so comfortable in it. I'm surprised how much I liked the tulle over the lace. And her makeup was perfect.

2.) Jodie Foster

Has Jodie Foster aged in twenty years? She looks phenomenal. Should I get a bob (again)? I need to schedule a visit to her dermatologist, stat. I love how edgy this dress is, how she dressed for how old she feels, not defining herself as a number. Or by anything else, as she so eloquently clarified in her moving acceptance speech. Besides being best dressed, she easily won my award for best speech. Not gonna lie, I needed a Kleenex when it was over.

3.) Isla Fisher

Ginger power! She just looked so glamorous, yet young and fresh.

4.) Naomi Watts

I love the illusion of her lack of legs in this photo. It practically takes a magical body to pull this dress off, anyway. I mean, look at the back.

Holy moley. I'm normally not crazy about trains, but I love this one.

5.) Jennifer Westfeldt (and Jon Hamm, I suppose)

Love the color. I just love how unique this is, and how she isn't afraid to bring it even though she isn't nominated, and many probably look at her as arm candy. But she's gorgeous, talented, superbly-dressed arm candy.

6.) Jennifer Garner

I don't know if she's ever looked better! She and Ben are so cute, best looking couple of the evening.

Lone Star - Two Years Late

Watching Political Animals (only the pilot) and seeing James Wolk, I was reminded of Lone Star, a unique, well-executed TV show from 2010 that was promptly cancelled after airing its second episode.

I didn't read any of the theories about why people didn't watch a show centered around a con man living two equally fulfilling lives. I had a brief discussion with a friend who thought women would hate it, though he didn't watch the show, so had no opinion for himself. Apparently, I was one of the few people who did watch the show, and I quite liked it. Soap opera/family drama meets heist/thriller, my kind of show.

Yes, the subject matter did appear sexist with the lead character being a womanizer and all, but the show didn't glorify him. He wasn't portrayed as a hero in a male erotic fantasy, the show was simply telling a con man's story. So I do understand why women especially wouldn't have tuned in in the first place, but Fox knew that from the get go. Lone Star was a hard sell, and I appreciate the risk that was taken. Unfortunately, not many people showed up for the premiere and even less came back for episode two.

For me, the show's failure was in the casting. James Wolk was not that character. I'm not saying he's a bad actor, I haven't seen him in anything else (except for PA where he had no storyline in the pilot). Just look at that face. He's a baby Dylan McDermott. But he played the lead character with zero edge, he was just a nice guy. Um, nice guys don't live double lives. That was a character that needed to walk the line between likeable and felon very carefully, not an easy task, and Wolk had no balance.

I enjoyed all of Lone Star's scenes, the two love interests were equally likeable, and I was interested in where the show was going with the conflict between Wolk and his con man father. But Wolk was all wrong for the part. And I'm still sad about it two years later.

Writing Tips from "Intervention"

I love Intervention. I love how it exposes humanity at its rawest. Love, anger, forgiveness, and, usually, relapse. But this post isn't a love letter to Intervention, it's about writing and the power of action compared to words.

During an intervention, it doesn't matter how many times the family members tell the addict that they love them and how much they would miss them if they died. Most of the time, the addict doesn't agree to go to rehab because people love them, they go because if they don't they won't have a place to live or any support system, so rehab is basically their only option.

Many times, the addiction has been brought on by abuse, a traumatic event, or genetics. In a recent episode, the mother of the addict was also an addict. The mother told her daughter she was leaving to get treatment that night, asking if her daughter would get treatment as well. An immediate answer of yes. I've seen this more than a few times on the show. Even if a relative just agrees to go to therapy, it's usually enough to make the addict readily agree to go into treatment without all the ultimatums. Action is more powerful than I Love You.

Human beings respond to action. Words can mean nothing, which is sometimes hard to grasp when we're creating a story by writing words. It's good to take a page from the humanity exposed on Intervention: a page of dialogue might be replaced with a single action that gets the strong reaction we're hoping to evoke from our characters and our readers.

"Current" Political Dramas

If only the script had been edited this heavily.

Political Animals and The Newsroom, two dramas currently airing that are rooted in the recent past.

Okay, pilots are difficult. I try my hardest not to judge a show by its pilot. But I won't be watching any more episodes of Political Animals, so I'm going to judge.

PA revolves around a female Secretary of State whose ex-husband used to be President...but she's from Illinois. Okay, phew. For a minute there, I thought this idea was a smidge biographical.

Besides a small lacking in originality, PA breaks my number one screenwriting commandment: show, don't tell. In the first scene, the Secretery of State to-be gives a televised speech as a Presidential candidate. Each of her family members steps onto the stage one at a time, and a reporter reads us a bio. This felt like a trip down the lazy river waterslide of screenwriting. In the next scene the SoS's mother refers to one of her grandsons as a "homo" which blew what could've been a fun reveal later on. PA spells everything out for us before we meet anyone, and the few reveals later on are lame.

Also, all of the scenes feel too long. So much dialogue without saying anything. Ugh. In the only enjoyable part of the show, the SoS gets out politicked by her ex-hubby, which was a nice twist. However, this satisfaction is short-lived as she promptly gives a feminist pep talk inspired by elephants. I love elephants, but this was offensive.

Looks like we both feel the same way about the show.

I made it through two episodes of The Newsroom before deciding that my time could be better spent doing just about anything, including daydreaming.

Wait, what? We're going to go back in time and Newsroom is going to tell me how the news should have been reported? Are you freaking kidding me? I don't need anyone preaching to me, even if I'm in the choir.

The two female characters are both the same character: Crazy. The same kind of emotionally unbalanced, insecure, I-need-a-man crazy. No, thank you. I can't even start on the romance they are setting up with Alison Pill. It's unbearable. (I know Olivia Munn is in the show as well, but being that she was in one scene in the 2nd episode and then referred to as Victoria Secret and then vehemently defended for her Ivy League degree, I'm already bored).

The Newsroom also suffers from a lack of show, don't tell. In the first two episodes we see Jeff Daniels have a public outburst that makes him quite likeable. Then we hear a bunch of characters saying how unlikeable he is. And then more and more negative mumblings and Emily Mortimer bending over backwards trying to verbally convince everyone he's not a dick. 6ty78ui76yt5rf4e34er5 t6wq2s5werfcgtvl,uiliu8vybhbhtrs. Hello! Sorry, I just fell asleep on my keyboard for a moment.

Arguing over whether or not someone is a dick is not compelling television. And, at this point, all we have seen of Jeff Daniels is him being refreshingly honest. I don't know how I'm supposed to feel, but I'm more inclined to feel how I've been shown how to feel rather than how I've been told how to feel.

In The Social Network, we know exactly how we're supposed to feel about Mark Zuckerberg from the first scene. We know he's smart, we know he's dickish and angry. Nobody needs to tell us a thing about him, he already showed us in a fun, riveting verbal whirlwind. I wish The Newsroom had been executed more along the same lines. While the show definitely has the verbal whirlwind going on, the breezes come from all directions, seemingly not knowing which direction to blow.

GIRLS - Season One

 I've had a week to reflect on my thoughts about season one of Lena Dunham's GIRLS. I enjoy the show for the same reason I enjoy TREME; there's not another show like it on TV. But, unfortunately, GIRLS doesn't have enough going for it to make it loveable.

When the show was announced, it received comparisons to SEX AND THE CITY, only younger and more realistic. Um, okay. Yes, I know Carrie Bradshaw lived in an apartment way above her paygrade and had a Manolo Blahnik addiction that would've saddled her with credit card debt for the rest of her life. However, was her living situation so much different from Hannah and Marnie, who live in a sizeable Brooklyn two-bedroom on a lovely, quiet residential street? And they keep spouting off about how they live in Brooklyn all the time, like Brooklyn is the ghetto or cheap or something. No way Marnie could afford that place on an art gallery assistant's salary (ahem, Charlotte). So, financially realistic? Not so much.

The thing that worked about SATC was that those characters loved each other and, as different as they were, the audience believed that they would actually be friends. No matter how crazy their personal lives got, the show was still rooted in the women's relationships with each other, and that tethered everything to reality. GIRLS doesn't have that. I don't know why any of those girls like each other. I don't buy any of them as friends. Yes, they're all extremely self-centered, but that doesn't mean they'll be friends. And also, the best character on the show is Adam. When the best character on a show called GIRLS is the crazy, semi-a-hole, sort-of boyfriend of the lead character, that says a lot. The girls on GIRLS are not nearly as compelling as they should be.

I think the most interesting thing the show has done is appeal to men. I watch the show with Hubs (who hates SATC), and he likes GIRLS more than I do. He appreciates the raw feeling the show has, and I agree. It seems like every episode of GIRLS originates from an idea of an awkward scene or moment and then the show is formed around that. It's a formula that creates some funny moments, but doesn't make for the strongest episodes.

The season finale was a complete misstep for me. Yes, characters need to have arcs. The definition of a character arc does not mean that each of your characters has to end up 180 degrees from where they started, but that's exactly what GIRLS did. It was like they made a list:

-Shoshanna. She's a virgin. By the end of the finale, she won't be. (Okay, I'll give them that one. That actually is a realistic progression that makes sense).

-Marnie. She's an uptight control freak. (I know this not because she acts uptight [she masterbates in public restrooms, so I guess it's all semantics], I know Marnie is uptight because every character on the show constantly tells us that she's uptight). So in the finale, we'll have her pick out the most annoying wedding guest and bang him. Nothing less uptight than slumming. (And, really, it was much more in her character to just hook up with her ex in the bathroom, because we know she's cool with public bathroom sexual activity. We also know she still wants to feel like she has the upper hand in that "relationship".)

-Jessa. She started out as the free-spirited chick who will do anything just to have done it. So we'll have some minor character give her a wierd and inappropriate motherly talking to, and an episode later she'll MARRY a dude that tried to have a threesome with her and Marnie and yelled at them when they spilled wine on his rug. Naturally.

-Adam. At the beginning of the season, he doesn't want to be in a relationship. By the finale, we'll have him practically bathing Hannah's feet and begging her to let him move in. And then he'll violently scream at her about it. But he's crazy, so it makes sense. Mmm-hmm.

-Hannah. She seems secure. But she'll admit that she's the most scaredest scaredy-cat person in the whole widest world. What is she so scared of? She doesn't say. Nothing honest will come out of her mouth, but she'll talk about how she's insecure about her body. A body that she hasn't been afraid to bare in every single episode. A body that in the season finale will be wearing a dress with a hemline six inches shorter than anyone with body issues would wear.

Needless to say, I didn't like this list all that much.

Yes, characters need to have arcs, preferably in the 45-90 degree range. When a character turns 180 degrees, they aren't the same character anymore. Movie characters may be able to do a complete turnaround (though I doubt it would feel realistic) because the film will end soonafter. A TV show can't sustain character flip-flopping. It just makes the viewer ask, who the hell are these people? And why am I watching them?

This is Awkward.

I love me a good teen dramedy, and Awkward. on MTV fits the bill. It's well written and the characters are fun. I'd describe it as Gilmore Girls meets Glee, but darker and no singing. And it's only half an hour, which I love, because even though I like the show, sometimes shorter is better and 22 minutes of commitment is much easier than 42.

My only gripe about the show is that it relies too heavily on the lead character's narration. The lead actress, Ashley Rickards, is talented and doesn't need the help; she should say something funny rather than think something funny. The show would end up being, well, funnier.

If you haven't checked out Awkward., it's worth your 22 minutes.

Day Eight - Ghent and "Modern Family"

Today we took a day trip to Gent on the train. Took the tram near the downtown area and walked to Simon Says for breakfast. Simon Says is a cute, affordable coffee shop.

We had a plate of pastries, orange juice, and coffee. I swear, the croissant was as good as the amazing one I had at the fancy, expensive Gerard Mulot bakery in Paris. Impressive.

Coffee + o.j. + pastries for two = 12 Euros. Reservations recommended.

We walked around downtown Ghent on a beautiful, sunny day. Definitely worth a day trip. There was much debate online on which city you should stay at, Bruges or Ghent, and which one you should day trip to. I'm glad we stayed in Bruges. It's so compact and there are a million places to eat. Ghent was a little larger and rougher around the edges.

In the town square

Lots of cathedrals that look like this in Ghent

Sitting by the river

We went through the Gravensteen Castle. It's amazing how castles are romanticized. They're all so cold and dark and scary. This one had a lot of torture stuff on display. I'm not really into the torture stuff, makes me queasy. Of course, Hubs was all over it.

After all the torture, it was time for lunch. We ate lunch at a restaurant in the Groot Vleeshuis (Great Butcher's Hall), Groentenmarkt 7. It's a great place to visit if you like food. Vendor's are selling meats and cheeses, hams hang from the ceiling, and tables are scattered throughout.

Hubs had the Gentse Waterzooie, Ghent's specialty, a curried chicken stew with carrots, leeks, and potatoes. Very rich and delicious. I had my fair share of it.

For variety, I ordered the lunch plate: an assortment of hams and cheeses, a salad, and chicken broth soup. All good.

We took the #4 Tram back to the train station and headed back to Bruges. Time to get our drink at 't Brugs Beertje. If you go to Bruges, you must go here, hundreds of beers and solid food. We went early, got a table, and spent the entire night there.

Kind of like "Cheers" but in Belgium

We needed some food to go along with the beer. Cheese plate:

And, of course, Pate:

Oerbier was my favorite beer of the night, and I had a few great ones:

The label is so cute!

It was the perfect evening. Amazing beer and delicious snacks. This was the Belgium I had dreamed of and it had all come true. And then it got better.

So, our waiter was a little crabby, I guess you could say. We had beer bottles and glasses on our small table, and then the two plates of food came and instead of trying to make room, he thrust the empty neighboring table into ours. As we continued to eat and drink, the place started filling up and I felt guilty for taking the extra table. We consolidated our food onto one plate and were able to free the other table. A guy my age nodded and smiled at me, I smiled back, he and his wife sat down at the table. I went on yammering about all my writing ideas. When I'm tipsy, I'm very inspired. I started talking about my pilot and the Modern Family spec I need to write. I went to use the bathroom and when I came back, the couple next door turned to us. "We were eavesdropping and we heard you say Modern Family and we just wanted to say that we're huge fans of the show."

I immediately liked Jenny and Whit. Hubs and I are huge eavesdroppers and my first thought was, how were we not eavesdropping on the Americans next to us? I didn't even pick up that they spoke English! Whit said he thought for sure I wasn't American because I moved the table. American travellers always assume other Americans are a-holes.

Whit and Jenny had just survived a hellish plane ride from Philly. The story involved a medical emergency, being halfway over the Atlantic, realizing that the emergency was a pregnant woman being deported who may or may not have been in labor, a long time figuring out what to do, and then turning around and going back to Philly. And then they got to start over again. So they were extremely grateful for the beers in front of them.

We talked all night. They were so smart and funny and in love. It was a joy to hang out with them. I think that's what travelling is all about, really. Meeting unexpected people, arriving at unexpected places, and having a different experience than you thought you would. Being at the right place at the right time. And that night we were.

After we'd been home for a few weeks, I asked Hubs what his favorite thing about the trip was, and he said this night. I might have to agree.

Game of Thrones

Okay, I'm officially caught up on Game of Thrones. I was really excited about this show when it premiered. The promos were beautiful. I'm all for any medieval show that doesn't revolve around Merlin-type magic. I thought the first episode was a little meh, but the second episode got better, and the third episode was a little better still, and then it pretty much tapered off.

There are a couple major problems with the show that violate basic screenwriting rules taught in every beginner screenwriting class in America, which is why I find these problems so irritating. I'm going to try and keep spoiler-free. I'll list some plot points, but not give away any twists and turns. And there are 800 characters on this show and I can't remember any of their names, so there won't be any of those either.

Basic Screenwriting Knowledge Violation #1: Show, don't tell.

This is the most exposition heavy show I've ever seen. We're in this beautiful world, and all everyone does is stand around and talk. It is freakin' boring. The whole show starts with the inciting incident of someone noteworthy being killed. But the person is already dead, and everyone just stands around talking about how the person is dead and who killed him. And they somehow all figure out who did it (still don't know how they got from A to B on that one) and then they tell the guy who did it they know he did it and he admits to it, and nothing comes of it. Um, then why couldn't we have just seen that person kill the guy as the first scene of the show? The whole thing would've been a lot less confusing. We would've known the killer was a bad guy right off the bat, and we wouldn't have been wondering who the guy was who got offed that everyone kept talking about for three episodes.

On a recent episode, a major character was attacked by a boar during a hunting expedition. Sounds interesting, right? But GoT would choose the least compelling way to have a boar attack. The seqence went something like this:

Character announces he's going hunting. Character's friends race back yelling that Character was attacked by a boar. Character lies in bed and tells how the boar attacked him and how he still killed the boar.

Wow, that was exciting, wasn't it? So much more exciting than seeing Character kill the attacking boar. The show could've used a little CGI boar, all I'm saying.

GoT clearly knows its exposition is boring because it's now trying to hide it instead of just getting rid of it. For example, during a particularly graphic sex scene, someone just happens to be talking about his past love throughout the entire scene. Awkward. And, hello, no one is listening because we're distracted by the, um, showing and don't care so much about the telling when there's naked people going at it. On GoT people also like to have deep conversations while bathing. And in two scenes in last week's episode, dead animals were being butchered during conversations to make it seem like something was happening. Yeah, we weren't fooled. It was still all just talk, talk, talking. Thanks for thinking that I'm dumb, GoT. Speaking of dumb people...

Basic Screenwriting Knowledge Violation #2: Characters make stupid decisions for no reason.

Ned Stark, the lead character, doesn't seem like a stupid guy, but he makes dumb decisions all the time. And it makes no sense! I don't even need to go into this because BuzzFeed has done the work for me and it's very funny (contains Spoilers): Introducing: Stupid Ned Stark.

GoT, please cut down on the exposition, and make Ned Stark a little brighter. And try to put Peter Dinklage in every scene. He's so, so good, easily the best part of the show.

Gettysburg & an Idiot

In observance of Memorial Day, Hubs and I watched the much advertised Gettysburg documentary by the History Channel. I don't know what I was expecting, maybe I thought it would be more like the promos with expensive-looking slow-mo reenactments and Kate Bush covers. Hubs summed it up perfectly when he said, well, they did a good job of making the promos look like it wasn't some regular History Channel show.

That's exactly what it was, a regular History Channel show with maybe a little more money to throw around and the Scott bros. names tacked on. I guess I thought there would be more in depth explanation of the strategy. They didn't bring anything new or special to the table. Unless you count the historian who got way too excited about all the damage that the different cannonballs inflicted on the soldiers. The whole thing really made me miss Shelby Foote and want to go out and buy Ken Burns' Civil War.

I'm also curious to see Gettysburg with Jeff Daniels. I sort of watched it in high school. My American History teacher decided to show my class the movie instead of teaching us that chapter. But he had a short attention span and whenever the generals would meet in the tent to strategize he would exclaim, Too much talk! And then fast forward to the battle scenes. Not very educational.

This was the same American History teacher that would leave the room for ten minute stretches and return with bloodshot eyes. The same teacher that played Birth of a Nation and rewound the part where the little sister jumps off a cliff to avoid being raped by a black man over and over and over again. You know, because it was hilarious. And yes, he was right, it kind of was funny the first and second times. The next five times, not so much. The same teacher who realized a week before the A.P. test (yes, this was an A.P. class) that we were still in the 60's, and "covered" the 70's, 80's, and 90's in one week. Yeah, didn't do so well on that test.

In another example of piss poor American history, Sarah Palin made the news this week when she rewrote the journey of Paul Revere and his famous ride through Boston during her am-I-or-aren't-I-running-(of course I am)-bus tour. Fine, who cares, right? She's dumb, really bad at answering softball questions, and too easy to make fun of, so not worth my time. However, it is infuriating how when being interviewed by Fox News, her own mothership, she was asked about the Paul Revere screwup and still claimed that everything she said was accurate. Okay, when you are given the chance to right your wrongs and you stick by your incorrect version of the Paul Revere story as the truth, you only prove one thing, and that is that you are crazy. Cray-cray please pack it up and go home. And home will never be the White House.

So in honor of Paul Revere, and belated Memorial Day, here is Stephen Colbert's reenactment of the revised ride of Paul Revere. Quite funny.

More Wall Decorations

After remembering the photo of Trent on my adolescent closet, I searched for other photos I had hanging up. Here's what I found:

Oh, Bai Ling. What went wrong? I saw you in Red Corner and thought you were so amazing and were on your way to being the next big thing. So beautiful, so talented. You were creepy in The Crow. Well done. Then in Anna and the King you were so beautiful and so talented again. And then you stopped being in movies and started dressing like a total wackjob, even winning Fug Madness (okay, I'll admit, that's impressive, but sad). And now you're going to be on Celebrity Rehab 5. Argh. You are still hot and can still act. You were even good in LOST, though I remember your part was some lame storyline to explain Matthew Fox's tattoos (you know, which are his real tattoos, so they need not be explained in a fictional show). But that wasn't your fault, that was the awfulness that LOST was at times. Please, clean it up, girl. I still have hope for you.

I was never a huge No Doubt fan, but I always worshiped Gwen's red lipstick and black liquid eyeliner. I also had mad respect for her multiple magazine interviews where she emphasized how she worked out a lot to keep her thin frame when all the other celebrities were saying they never worked out and ate whatever they wanted to. She made teenage girls believe they could grow up to be healthy rock princesses without starving themselves.

Rob Thomas? I guess I really liked Matchbox Twenty's first album. And the dude was homeless for a bit before their big break. It was a nice story. Moving on...

 CZJ, I loved you in Mask of Zorro. I'm still a little creeped out that you married Michael Douglas.

Wino Forever. How come Charlie Sheen can be a wife-abusing, anti-Semitic, host of porn stars hauling suitcases of cocaine, yet completely in demand when all he was good at in the first place was playing a womanizer who spouted bad dick and fart jokes? And you, with years of solid film performances and multiple Oscar nominations have one small misunderstanding with Saks and some prescription pills and your career is toast for ten years. Hollywood is not fair. Lucas was a childhood fave. Dracula, Little Women. So good. You looked great in Black Swan, not a hint of Botox. Here's hoping for more leading roles in the near future. And finally...

Okay, this was not the same photo of Shirley Manson that I had up, but it was the same hair and makeup, so it may have been from the same shoot. In my photo she was wearing a sleeveless robin's egg blue latexy shirt, but I can't seem to find that photo. Anyway, Shirley was my hero, still is. Love her voice, love her lyrics, love her style. Love Butch Vig and the rest of Garbage. No, I did not watch her in The Sarah Connor Chronicles because I gave up on that show long before then, but I'm always tempted to check out the episodes she's in. Maybe someday.

I had many, many more photos, mostly from Premiere (does that magazine even still exist?) and Rolling Stone, which is business savvy and makes you pay a subscription fee to look through their archives. Darn you RS for refusing to adapt to the free internet age.

Island of Flowers

I was watching the Nicaragua episode of No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain. He observed that it would be hard to do his gluttonous food show after witnessing young children digging through a landfill for food and recyclables. The scene reminded me of a documentary short that I saw years ago. It will definitely stick with you.

Wall Decoration

Holy hell! I can't believe I forgot to include Trent Reznor in my Oscar blog!

In high school I had magazine photos of all my favorite actors/actresses/musicians hanging on my closet doors. This SPIN cover of Trent Reznor always stuck out the most. I would stare at it all the time, hypnotized and pondering: Why did they apply concealer around his nose in perfect trapezoids and then not blend it? Why does he look so much like Jesus? Is he praying? Where did the bump on his nose go? This is the most photoshopped photo I've ever seen. I can't believe Trent signed off on this. It seems so un-Trent Reznor.

I even remember the article a bit. "The Perfect Drug" had just come out and was a huge hit accompanied by an awesome video. Trent was asked about his next album and he said he didn't have much material. He was having writer's block and a little perplexed. Oh the woes of being an artist. I was shocked when The Fragile came out a year later because not only was it awesome, it was a massive two-discer. I guess the inspiration must have struck. There is hope for us all.

In high school, if you had told me that Trent Reznor would cut off all of his hair, win an Oscar, and give a completely tame, everyman acceptance speech, I would have told you to eff off, turned up the NIN, and continued applying my black kohl eyeliner. But now that I'm older (and not any wiser) my inner fifteen year old celebrates this former rebel winning an Oscar. He deserved it. The Social Network's score was perfect for the the movie. And when was the last time a true rock star won an Oscar? I've seen a number of concerts in my day, and Trent in concert rocked it for two hours straight. It was most impressive. The only other musician I've seen capture the stage like Trent was Bono, and Bono didn't writhe around for two hours.

Congratulations, Trent. I'll always remember you as the picture on my closet door; you, but not quite you. As any artist should be.

Oscars 2010

Awards season is over! Congratulations to The King's Speech on its Best Picture win. My thoughts on the Oscars can best be summed up with my Top Ten list. Since there were five movies on my list that placed higher than TKS, it obviously wouldn't have been my pick. But that's okay, because Avatar didn't win last year, and for that I am still grateful.

I love Aaron Sorkin for many reasons. He's an amazing writer. He's eloquent and well-spoken. And I know his assistant's name is Laura. The reason I know that is because he thanks her every time he gets an award. What a stand up guy. Every single person who won last night (expect maybe the doc and short film people) has an assistant (probably more than one). How many people thanked their assistant (and their researcher)? Mr. Aaron Sorkin. Yep, I think that was it. From all the assistants out there, Thank You.

Best Acceptance Speech of the Evening: Luke Matheny, the NYU student who accepted for "God of Love" for Best Short Film. He thanked his mom for being Craft Services on his movie. It was the biggest laugh of the night.

But enough about the awards, it's all about who looked best. My top 5 IN ORDER:

Best Dressed: Amy Adams

Glorious. Sparkly. Perfect jewelry. Can someone lend me some emeralds?

2.) Jennifer Lawrence

Va Va Voom. The Oscars needed some sexiness this year, and Jennifer brought it. And her makeup. Oh, the makeup. Best makeup of anyone all awards season.

3.) Annette Bening

This is the dress Melissa Leo should have worn. It's age appropriate, yet fun. But I think it would look great on women of all ages. I want it. I could find somewhere to wear it.

4.) Natalie Portman

It was her night and she looked the best she's looked all season. Ditch the matchy-match earrings and she's perfection.

5.) Helen Mirren

I. Just. Love. Her.

Honorable Mention: Hailee Steinfeld

I liked her Oscar dress...

I love that she helped design it. It's lovely and youthful. I think the headband ruined it for me, much as Natalie's earrings almost ruined her look. But cheers for looking like a fourteen year old should look when she goes to the Oscars. And cheers for looking like a superstar at the SAGs.

This dress is freakin' awesome. It should look like a table cloth, but instead looks like a work of art. Way to rock it, Hailee. And the season started with this:

Pretty fabulous way to start. Thanks for a lovely awards season, Hailee, and for nailing all three of the televised shows.