Oscar Night

Just a little business before I get to the point of this entry.  I got a part in a one act play with the Love Creek Productions Theater Company.  It should be a lot of fun, and all should attend.  It is showing March 13, 14 and 15 at 8 pm.  I will post more details in a few days.  Also, I finally watched The Tree of Life today so I have seen all 9 of the Academy Award nominated pictures.  I didn't hate The Tree of Life the way I expected too.  Normally I am not a huge fan of all visuals and no plot, but it go to me, and I really enjoyed it.  Anyways, the point of this post is not really about me, but more of an extension of my last two entries.  I figured I would predict the Oscars tonight, because I want to, and I am normally pretty good at this so I wanted to prove it.  So without further ado:

Best Picture
The Artist

Best Actor
Jean Dujardint

Best Actress
Viola Davis

Best Supporting Actor
Christopher Plummer

Best Supporting Actress
Octavia Spencer (could be Jessica Chastain, but in the effort to only choose one I will go with Octavia)

Best Animated Feature
Rango

Best Cinematography
The Tree of Life

Best Art Direction
Hugo

Best Costume Design
Jane Eyre

Best Director
Michel Hazanavicius, The Artist

Best Documentary Feature
Undefeated

Best Documentary Short
Incident in New Baghdad

Best Film Editing
The Artist

Best Foreign Language Film
Iran, "A Separation:

Best Makeup
The Iron Lady (I am pretty sure Voldemort counts as visual effects, if not then I would have chosen Potter)

Best Music (Original Score)
Ludovic Bource, The Artist (It is hard to vote against Williams, but since he is nominated twice I think he is his biggest enemy)

Best Music (Original Song)
"Man or Muppet" from The Muppets ( I have a 50/50 chance here but I think this song is amazing so I would have picked it with five nominees.)

Best Short Film (Animated)
A Morning Stroll

Best Short Film (Live Action)
The Shore

Best Sound Editing
Drive (It has to win something)

Best Sound Mixing
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Best Visual Effects
Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Best Writing (Adapted Screenlay)
Hugo

Best Writing (Original Screenplay)
Midnight in Paris (Would love to see a Bridesmaids win here)

Some of these were complete guesses.  I will post soon to recap my results.

Cheers

Just For Fun: The Sequel

Well now that the Academy Award nominations are announced, let's see how I did.

Here is a list of the nominees:

Best Picture
The Artist
The Descendents
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
The Help
Hugo
Midnight In Paris
Moneyball
The Tree of Life
War Horse

I only predicted that there would be 7 nominees, so all of my predictions made it in besides The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, which i'm actually pretty surprised about.  I missed War Horse, Extremely Loud, and The Tree of Life.  I try to see all the nominees, so I was hoping Tree of Life wouldn't get nominated (which is why I didn't predict it).  Many of you know how I feel about Terrence Malick and my hatred of A New World, but this could be better, who knows?

Best Director
Michele Hazanavicius-The Artist
Alexander Payne-The Descendents 
Martin Scorsese-Hugo
Woody Allen-Midnight In Paris
Terrence Malick-The Tree of Life

I had a definite lapse of concentration when I predicted these, because Michele Hazanavicius was a definite front runner for me, so I don't know why I didn't type his name in my predictions, but if I had, I would have still had one wrong because I would have taken out Malick.  Again with this hatred of him.  I'm not even sure why, his films are beautiful, just boring.

Best Actor
Demian Bichir-A Better Life
George Clooney-The Descendents
Jean Dujardin-The Artist
Gary Oldman-Tinker, Taylor, Soldier, Spy
Brad Pitt-Moneyball

Epic Fail.  Missed Bichir and Oldman.  I'm really excited about Bichir though.  He was great in A Better Life.  That movie really hit a chord with me.

Best Actress
Glenn Close-Albert Nobbs
Viola Davis-The Help
Rooney Mara-The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Meryl Streep-The Iron Lady
Michelle Willliams-My Week With Marilyn

Sweet 100% Correct!  I'm happy with this group.

Best Supporting Actor
Kenneth Branagh-My Week With Marilyn
Jonah Hill-Moneyball
Nick Nolte-Warrior
Christopher Plummer-Beginners
Max von Sydow-Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close

2 Wrong again.  I missed von Sydow, and Nolte, but to be fair I mentioned Nolte as an alternate, but von Sydow came out of nowhere.  I assumed they would hate Extremely Loud, even though I enjoyed it.

Best Supporting Actress
Bernice Bejo-The Artist
Jessica Chastain-The Help
Melissa McCarthy-Bridesmaids
Janet McTeer-Albert Nobbs
Octavia Spencer-The Help

Missed Shailene Woodley for Melissa McCarthy.  If I had my choice, both would have made it in and McTeer out, but only because I haven't seen Albert Nobbs.  Maybe I will soon, but Woodley was awesome in The Descendents.  Who would have thought she's a teenager with a secret life on some ABC Family show?

Okay, well that is the end of these little detours from real life.  I know that most people aren't as into these things as I am, but I figured someone might care a little bit.  Also, I am thinking of starting a movie review blog, just to keep me active and such, because this was actually kind of fun.

Just For Fun

So basically my life revolves around entertainment, whether it be consuming it, or providing it.  My favorite form of this entertainment happens to be movies, as basically everyone reading this knows.  So I decided to compile a top 10 list.  I kind of stole this idea from my friend Drew.  You can read his here .So without further ado:

10. Hugo:  This nostalgic soon to be classic in it's own right was a wonderful homage to the origins of cinema, told through the eyes of an orphan with a sense of adventure.
9. Like Crazy:  Great chemistry between the two leads.  I really liked that there was no concrete script making the dialogue come across very natural.  It also made me fall in love with Felicity Jones, which is a huge  plus.
8. Crazy Stupid Love:  Ah Emma Stone.  No, but really this was hilarious with a twist that I never saw coming, or expected.  Normally you are prepared for, or are expecting twists in certain movies, even if you don't know what they actually are.
7.The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo:  Rooney Mara was great, Daniel Craig was great, and David Fincher never really makes bad movies.  I'm not sure if I preferred this to the Swedish version, I would need another watch of each to make that decision.
6. The Muppets:  "We've got everything that we need, we can be whatever we want to be"  "Am I a man or am I a muppet?"  It was just a good time.  I enjoyed the cheesiness mixed with classic Muppet hijinks.
5. The Descendents:  It made me cry.  I don't normally cry at movies, but something about this one got to me.  Also, all of the performances were great.
4. The Help: Ah Emma Stone.  Well really this was Viola Davis' movie, but I generally was a huge fan.  Can't really say anything negative about it, except that it didn't seem to dig deep enough into the issues it brought up, but in general I really enjoyed it.  I want to read the book, because I hear it addresses my one negative criticism.
3. Bridesmaids: Funniest movie of 2011.  I'm not going to go into the whole, I can't believe girls can be raunchy TOO bit that everyone seems to go into when talking about this movie.  All I will say is that it is hilarious and the cast was perfect.
2. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2: ...I think that is all this needs.  Pretty self explanatory.
1. The Artist:  It takes a tall order to beet the final installment of a franchise that I have been obsessed with since I was 12, but The Artist was just what I needed at the exact right time.  It lived in the period is was honoring and it oozed charisma and magic.  I was on cloud nine throughout the entire thing.  I never wanted it to end, though it had to, and on a note that left me leaving the theatre with a smile on my face that would last hours.

Honorable Mentions (in no particular order): 50/50, Midnight In Paris,Submarine, A Better Life, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, X-Men: First Class, Drive, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Moneyball

Biggest Surprises: Submarine (coming of age story, that is soon to be a cult classic.  It is awesome and everyone should see it.  It is predictable, but original all at the same time.)  Martha Marcy May Marlene (The Olsen twins have a younger sister with acting talents that surpass both of them combined)

Biggest Disappointments: The Iron Lady, J Edgar, Shame, Cars 2, My Week With Marilyn, One Day) Definitely all of the high profile bio-pics.  Normally I'm into them, but this year they just fell flat with me.  Shame had a lot of hype with really no delivery besides Fassbender's performance, and no I am not talking about his, well you know.  Pixar made a dud, it was better than Cars 1, but not the classics they have come to spoil us with, and Anne Hathaway can do much better (here's to hoping for an awesome Catwomen))

After completing this list I realized how many great films I saw this year.  I really wish I could have made a top 20, but because of my love of tradition (and rules created by myself, which I could have easily broken with no consequences) I decided to keep it a top 10, but with a generous list of honorable mentions (loophole).

I also am pretty crazy about the Academy Awards, which most people already know as well.  It is a dream of mine to win one some day.  I have never actually written that down before, so it feels good to say it.  Anyways, I want to predict the nominations before they are announced this morning.  I am only going to do the 6 categories.  So here goes:

Best Picture
The Artist
Hugo
The Descendents
The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Midnight In Paris
The Help
Moneyball

Best Director
Martin Scorsese-Hugo
David Fincher-The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Alexander Payne-The Descendents
Terrence Malick-Tree of Life
Woody Allen-Midnight In Paris

 Best Actor
Jean Dujardin-The Artist
Brad Pitt-Moneyball
George Clooney-The Descendents
Leonardo DiCaprio-J. Edgar
Michael Fassbender-Shame

Best Actress
Meryl Streep-The Iron Lady
Viola Davis-The Help
Michelle Williams-My Week With Marilyn
Rooney Mara-The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
Glenn Close-Albert Nobbs

Best Supporting Actor
Christopher Plummer-Beginners
Jonah Hill- Moneyball
Albert Brooks-Drive
Kenneth Branagh-My Week With Marilyn
Patton Oswalt-Young Adult

Best Supporting Actress
Octavia Spencer-The Help
Jessica Chastain-The Help
Berenice Bejo-The Artist
Shailene Woodley-The Descendents
Janet McTeer-Albert Nobbs

So this is the list of who I think will get nominated, not who I want to get nominated.  The hardest two categories were definitely the Supporting Categories, having not scene Albert Nobbs or Warrior.  I went with Patton Owalt with the Supporting Actor category given that I saw Young Adult and he was incredible.  I had to go with Janet McTeer, instead of alternate Melissa McCarthy because McCarthy's performance doesn't seem to be an "oscar" type performance.

Well that's it for my detour into another type of blog.  I hope you had fun.  Now please exit towards the rear of the auditorium and make sure to recycle your 3D glasses in the provided containers.

Trials and Tribulations

So, it has been a while since I've updated, which I wish meant that I was just so busy I couldn't find the time to update.  In reality it's more because I haven't felt the need to update because the course has kind of steadied, which makes the title of this post somewhat ironic.  But, what I realized is that these ups and downs are the norm.  I've realized that with this career there are going to be highs, but also a lot of lows.  The past few months have kind of been a low point, basically due to the lack of auditions, mixed with other things.  But today I finally got a compliment that I thought I would never get, and that is all it took to kind of break me out of this little funk.  I know that seems a little superficial and I shouldn't care what people think, but in reality everyone cares a little bit about other people think.  I've decided not to reveal what it was because I kind of want to keep it a little more personal.

Anyways as for the generic info dump on what has been happening in my life, I am writing this after being up for almost 36hrs straight, with about an hour nap in there somewhere.  Basically I just got finished with two open calls, which I normally hate, but these actually seemed pretty good.  I also, have two auditions lined up for next week, so that is good.  I'm just really happy to finally be going out on auditions again.  The month of December was a dry one, so I am happy January has proved a lot more prosperous. 

I am hopefully moving back to day shifts at work, but with a regular schedule, so I will still have weekends off, so I will still have time to go out on auditions.  I'm really excited about just being able to sleep again.  It's going to be glorious. 

Anyways, I'm sorry this post is kind of boring and generic, and probably doesn't make much sense, but my lack of sleep has caused my brain to work on a completely different train of thought.  I'm just happy I was able to string this together.

Cheers

And So it Begins

To anyone I haven't told previously, I finally got my first part in New York City.  This feels like such a long time coming, even though it has only been 6 months since I've moved here.  I guess it feels so long because the last show I was in was The Credeaux Canvas about a year and a half ago.  The show is a sketch comedy show called "Something Outrageous" that originated at Second City in Chicago and has migrated it's way to New York City.  It has a very cabaret/vaudeville feel to it.  So for those of you itching to see me perform, here are the details. 

Title: Something Outrageous
Where: The 45th Street Theatre (45th St between 8th and 9th Ave)
When: Friday 11/11 and 11/12 at 8:30 pm
Price: $25, but that includes free drinks before the show
Tickets at Smarttix.com and 212-868-4444

It's a very short show, only about 45 minutes.  There are multiple casts and productions so make sure you get tickets to the 8:30 show, because that is mine.

This truly feels like the beginning of my journey.  I am really excited that it has started after the last few months, I really needed this. 

In other news, I have another audition today.  It's for a musical...I am really freaking out about it, because I haven't done a musical since Godspell about 3 years ago.  I have been watching videos from it to kind of remember what it felt like, and can't help but smile from all the fond memories.  To those of you who are curious, here is a video.

Anyways, I am hoping that this show will start a streak of parts, but if not, at least I got over the hurdle of getting my first part in New York.

Auditions Auditions!

So I haven't updated in a while, basically because nothing has really changed enough to inspire me to update, until recently.  A few minutes ago I just got an email telling me I have an audition on Monday, this will follow my two auditions that I have on Sunday.  This is the most that I have had in a while.  This means though I thought I was telling myself that the summer is a slow season for my type of projects, that I was actually right.  I had started to doubt myself through most of September because of the lull that occurred.

I also switched to overnight shifts at work, which means I do not have to freak out every time I get an audition notice, worrying if I will have to switch shifts with someone.  I can know look at it knowing I will be free at the time.  I also get weekends off, which is a nice plus.

I'd like to say that I will update soon with the results of these auditions, but I can't guarantee it.

Cheers.

Filling the Gap

So blogger just came out with an app for the iPhone, which is pretty awesome. Now I can blog from wherever I am. I just wanted to give a quick update on how life is going right now, since my last post was about a month ago an it ended with me saying I was going to update more, but apparently my life had other plans.

I started two new acting classes, which I love. A scene study and a voice class. With the scene study class I am finally getting to do some real character work, which I haven't gotten to do since The Credeaux Canvas, which was about a year ago. It's basically been torture being away from it that long, so I'm happy to be back. I also had an audition for my first paid gig. I didn't get it, but I got called in to audition, which is good enough for me.

I have another audition in a few weeks, I'll let you know if this one works out more positively. I'm sorry for the lack of wittiness and charm in this post, but I really wanted to update everyone on what was going on. Till next time.

Cheers