I just have to say...

... that she nails it every time.

Sadder news (therefore not deserving of visual aid) was the result of the awards. TV choices were:

a) Horrifically predictable: Are Claire Danes and Al Pacino collecting awards for these performances in 2056? It seems very likely.

b) Sad: "Boardwalk Empire" and "The Good Wife" taking awards from "Mad Men".
c) Outrageous: Betty White winning only because she is older than TV. Alec Baldwin winning for the fifth (!!) time in a row.
d) Wonderful (the exception): MODERN FAMILY!

In film things were:
a) Equally predictable but great: Natalie Portman.
b) Equally predictable and ok but not great: Colin Firth.
c) Equally predictable and I-don't-know-what-else-because-I-haven't-seen-The-Fighter: Melissa Leo and Christian Bale.
d) Apocalyptic: The King's Speech.

I fear. I don't want The King's Speech to win and it seems unavoidable. DOOM! DOOM!

Blonde Ambitions Part III (The "Older does not mean old" Pt.1)

Blonde TV actresses that have grown up can also be ambitious. Some of them have fared better than others through those ambitions nevertheless...

Elizabeth Perkins as Celia Hodes in Weeds

Celia is that neighbour we all want to have, don't we? If she is portrayed by Elizabeth Perkins I definitely want her close. She is so fun in the role (or was, I should say...) that even though in real life she would be annoying it is impossible not to love her on the show. Reading Elizabeth's Imdb page I only remember her in The Ring 2. (WARNING: Embarrasing story follows) I went to see The Ring 2 to the theatre (I had already seen the first one and I liked it) and in a magazine I had read that Sissy Spacek appeared in the film. It was curious because of her portrayal of Carrie in the homonymous film. Well, back then, I had not seen Carrie, and so I thought she was the actress playing the doctor in that scary needle scene (or was it a scary pair of scissors? Scary either way...). Yes, I thought Elizabeth Perkins was Sissy Spacek. And they do not look much alike actually...

Felicity Huffman (Lynette Scavo in Desperate Housewives)

Felicity Huffman is the only woman on this post to have been nominated for a Best Actress Oscar. Even so, she is not the most succesful of the lot by far. Right now, she seems condemned to play Lynette Scavo forever. Not that she's not good at it but her storylines are lately the most boring ones. Plus, Tom Scavo is possibly the most annoying character ever to appear on television. Nevertheless she will always be able to say that she worked with Paul Thomas Anderson... 

Julie Bowen as Claire Dunphy in Modern Family

And we encounter the third housewife in a row, the one without a known job, the magnificent Claire Dunphy. To be honest I'm more on Team Gloria but since she is not a blonde... Not to worry because my love for Claire is also great. Julie Bowen entered my life as Jack's I-want-to-dance-at-my-wedding-wife in Lost. Then she was the MILF on Weeds that allowed us to see Silas' on action (the gif is very small but if you saw the scene, you will remember it). For her future, she is set to appear on Horrible Bosses playing Kevin Spacey's wife if I recall correctly. Playing the wife of Kevin Spacey in a Jennifer Anniston /Jason Bateman (The Switch was quite endearing) comedy might not seem much but less is nothing...

Kelly Rutherford (Lily Van Der Woodsen Bass Humphrey... in Gossip Girl)

Lily could also be considered a housewife, only her chores consist on sitting at a table writing thank-you notes rather than kneeling to scrub the floors... I love Lily even when she is mean or has ulterior motives (once every two episodes) because Kelly's portrayal makes her so endearing... even when she's next to hateful-Rufus! Anyway Kelly has done a lot of films, a lot of TV and though her future seems to be solely occupied by Gossip Girl she will always be able to say that she was killed in a Scream film...Isn't that what every actress want?

Rosemarie DeWitt is Charmaine in "United States of Tara"

THE CHEAT FACTOR: Yes, I know she is not a blonde but it's my party and I'll cry if I want to. Besides, Rosemarie's talent is too big to be overlooked. I think that picture is from Rachel Getting Married where she also played a woman outshined by her sister craziness. She brings so much life and wit into Charmaine that it is impossible not to love the self-absorbed bitch she is. As to her ambitions, she had a great role on Mad Men and was very well received though not near as much (in quantity) as she deserved for her Rachel. She plays Ben Affleck's wife or girlfriend or something (they are in bed in the trailer) in The Company Men. And I fondly remember her as Miranda's mean co-worker in a Sex and the City episode...

To be continued...

Oscar Nominations

Oscar Nominations were a day ago and writing this post I feel like I'm getting late to the party... Well, that's me! A turtle! Anyways, Oscar voters were good this year. Of course, some things were good, some were bad but I don't think any of those things was awful à la Blind Side last year...

Let's break those things down:

THE BAD

- No Andrew Garfield.

- No Mila Kunis.

- No Black Swan screenplay.

- No Black Swan in Costume Design.

It's good that all bad things are snubs and not horrific inclusions. Wait, I forgot:

- Tom Hooper: Is there anything more bland and generic than The King's Speech direction?

- Alice in Wonderland (it was butt-ugly and it was not intended as in Biutiful so... what is the achievement exactly?)

- The Best Song category. Let's hope this year they don't perform or Lauren Bacall will fall asleep...

THE HILARIOUS

- No Nolan in directing. Fanboys must be burning stuff...

THE GOOD

- A great array of ten nominees for Best Picture.

- Twenty respectable performances (of those I've seen HBC is the weakest one and she is good)

- Four auteurs in Best Director. 

- The Way Back for Make-Up.

THE GREAT

- Exit through the Gift Shop.

- Dogtooth.

- The Social Network's score (and all the other seven nominations).

- I Am Love for Best Costume Design.

THE FANTABULOUS

- Black Swan's cinematography.

- Black Swan's editing.

- Natalie Portman.

- DARREN ARONOFSKY.

- Black Swan for Best Picture.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING

- Nicole Kidman for Rabbit Hole!!

Blonde Ambitions Part II (The Abortions)

Please, understand that the title of this post has nothing to do with Vera Drake's profession. What has been aborted were the careers of these TV blondes. Another thing these two girls have in common is their show ending this 2010. And so did their hopes to work...

Becki Newton was Amanda on Ugly Betty and she was hilarious. From killing one-liners ("I have pornographic memory") to physical comedy (her way of walking should have earned top billing) she was the funniest part about a show that, let's face it, was not very good. But alas, I loved it. And Amanda was (obviously) my favorite character. And poor Becki Newton got a leading role in a sitcom about a virgin (whom she was going to play) and she got pregnant. Maybe she thought the role was for an HBO epic in which she would play the Virgin Mary. Whatever her reasoning, the thing is that, in that particular case, a pregnant virgin was not what was required. So she was out of job (but with a baby, so she was happy nevertheless). We can only hope that once those stretch marks have faded she will make us laugh again.

Emilie de Ravin, on the other hand, was never much fun on her show (Lost, for the two people who did not follow it). She was cute, sweet and on one flashback, a brunette. But she was never fun per se. Maybe with the fake peanut butter... Anyway, she was blonde and beautiful and it looked like she was going to have a career in movies. She appeared on Michael Mann's Public Enemies (a film which also featured current go-to girl Carey Mulligan but they could be pointing a gun to my head and I still would not remember her) and on that hey-it's-Robert-Pattinson film Remember me and then she fell off the side of the Earth! Ironic after starring in a film which title is imploring us not to forget her...

Conclusion: These two girls were promised a paradise that was lost. Time will tell if they can regain it... (How awful it is to make a Milton reference when all you have read of his work are the titles?)

To be continued...

Blonde Ambitions Part I (The Antichrist)

If you were expecting some kind of cool Antichrist (like Charlotte Gainsbourg with a talking fox) this is not your lucky day. This is just your regular Katherine Heigl Antichrist. Inspired by Human Dramedy's wonderful take on a couple of brunettes, I thought I would do the same for the blondes of the world, the TV world that is. Blonde actresses working (now or sometime) on television and how have they fared in their careers. And as I compiled the list of the actresses I would like to discuss, I realized that a post was not enough to accomplish such a task. So here it is the first part of this humble project. (sidenote: there is nothing more humble than calling yourself humble) And as I do in life, I have chosen to start with the more disgusting part: the black-void blonde ambition.

Katherine Heigl first appeared in my life as Izzie Stevens on Grey's Anatomy and I'm proud to say I loved her! Her character was nothing if not lovable and someone playing a doctor so nice has to be nice in real life... Ha! The magic of television is prone to fool you. After becoming one of the most loathed characters ever she eventually left the show that gave her everything and turned into a "movie star". I could be Ok with that. Celebrities are entitled to bitchiness according to Bette Davis' and Joan Crawford's gospels... But if you leave a decent (or semi-decent by the time she left) show to star in films such as 27 dresses, The Ugly Truth or Killers, be prepared to be hated by me. And to be fair, I have not seen any of those films but this is my blog and I can have prejudices if I want to!! If you don't like it, stop reading and go watch High School Musical for all I care!! Blah! Crazy!!

Anyway, Katherine Heigl, I hate you. I loved you once, though. But don't worry, it doesn't look like my love for you is ever coming back... So this is it. The first Blonde Ambition and she's burnt in hatred flames!

To be continued...

Actors can have penises too!

Sometimes I forget that in the world of acting men do some things too (but it is logical because women are so fascinating). Anyway, the thing is that THR has graced us with another round table, this time with actors and I have a few stupidities to say..

 The first and most noticeable thing if you are human and homosexual is that most of this men are super hot. I would definitely pay to see these three men (plus Gosling, not in this picture but possibly the hottest around the table) directed by renowned auteur Bel Ami...

 Secondly you can notice that either Robert Duvall is completely lacking in social skills or just demented. The way he made the interviewers repeat the questions was quite annoying (though the questions were bland and boring to begin with...) and his tirade against Kubrick was just blasphemy. I wonder how Jack Nicholson feels about what he said. For the record I believe that both performances Duvall despises (Nicholson's in The Shining and Malcolm McDowell's in A Clockwork Orange) are tremendously great. On the other hand I was happy to see that even grumpy Robert joined the general consensus while praising Fincher because Fincher is a lot of Fincher...

Eisenberg is, on the other hand, the one I found more likable. He was evidently very nervous, like the time when he's five minutes looking for a precise word and comes up only with "friend". He also gets points for his reaction when everyone is laughing at Duvall's dementia and for saying that working with Fincher is amazing. I also loved when he looked for approval from Ruffalo (another Fincher boy) and when he mentions his lack of experience compared to his fellow actors.

I thought Firth would be funnier slash more charming than he actually is. But he looks so smart and dashing that I can't help being in love with him. Plus he's British. The downside is he's going to get an Oscar for a role I'm not sure I'm going to enjoy a lot...

What was going on with Franco? Was he high? Or just high on himself? It was kind of pathetic when he talked about his experiences in the directing world. Bitch, please! What have you directed? Two short films? Anyway the pornstache was very hot and arrogance looks hot on him.

Oh my God, Ryan Gosling is too beautiful to be true in this interview. And he seemed nice which is something I had never felt about him before. It was like Gosling was playing Franco and Franco was playing Gosling... Just like arrogance looks hot on Franco, humbleness looks really hot on Gosling. Basically everyone was hot around the table! Have I mentioned the general hotness enough times?!?

And last but not least (least would actually be first, sorry Bob), we have not-obviously-hot-but-hot-in-a-weird-way-nevertheless Mark Ruffalo. He looked very nice talking about his background as a waiter and his family being blue collar and his starting acting in his late twenties... And he's very funny and also smart because he makes the most of the Fincher anecdote on the thousand takes by grabbing Gosling's chest... Seriously, who wouldn't do that?






As a closing note I would like to point out that even though I haven't lived many awards races (this is only my third one) it's being the most exciting by far! Yay! Awards!

Gaga

I saw Lady Gaga. She ate my heart and the she ate my brain. 

I don't mean to sound like a Justin Bieber fifteen-year-old fan but I think I had a religious experience.

A sense of community and of art I had never felt before.

The next level. Gaga.