Dancing Bread Rolls

In case anyone is still confused about how exactly to comment on other people’s blogs without it being completely screwed up, here is a [rather roundabout] way that works. As far as I can tell, this is the only way that works.

1. SIGN OUT of your own blog

2. Go back to blogs.elsweb.org and locate the blog you wanted to comment on

3. Leave your comment (you have to provide your name and e-mail address, I believe)

And that’s it :)

(Basically, you can’t be signed in to leave comments on other blogs. Yes, it’s silly, but until it is fixed, this is the only way to leave a comment on someone else’s blog.)

As promised, I will now explain the oh so cryptic Charlie Chaplin cookie comment in my previous post: “Charlie Chaplin is the chocolate chip cookie of movie stars.” However, I will do this in list form. Ponder this for a moment. If your favorite actor/actress were a desert, what would he/she be? I think this question is deeply relevant to our lives and deserves serious, intense thought.

Charlie Chaplin: chocolate chip cookie (Simple– a universal favorite. Satisfying and enjoyable but not overwhelming. Joy-inspiring. Easily accessible. Addictive. Cute.)

—

And this can be continued. For example,

Marilyn Monroe: meringue

Johnny Depp: hot fudge sundae

Christian Bale: devil’s food cake

Hugh Grant: coffee cake (something you would serve when your Grandmother comes to visit)

Pierce Brosnan: Black Forest cherry cake

Fred Astaire: sugar cookie

Sean Connery: candied haggis (sorry. couldn’t resist.)

Nicole Kidman: Turkish delight

Tom Cruise: Nestle Wonderball (you’re not quite sure what’s inside)

Robin Williams: Phish Food ice cream

Katherine Hepburn: pop rocks (noisy)

Cary Grant: nutella

Colin Firth: cheesecake (you can never have enough)

Reese Witherspoon: strawberry shortcake

Hugh Jackman: chocolate pudding

—

Very deep, involved thinking, as you can see. As it’s 3:40am and my brain has finally decided to cease its already skewed functioning, that’s it for now. However, I am officially issuing an open invitation for additions to this list. You should rise to the challenge! While not as philosophically demanding as many other questions posed in this class, I think this is by far the most important, don’t you? So go on. Be brave.

What dessert is YOUR favorite film star?

And the results…

ACTOR: Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland)

SUPPORTING ACTOR: Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine) (yay, my long shot won!)

ACTRESS: Helen Mirren

SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Jennifer Hudson

ANIMATED FILM: Happy Feet (Ha! Take that, Cars! Reserving judgment until I manage to see both.) (Robyn may be right.)

ART DIRECTION: Pan’s Labyrinth (Hooray!)

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Pan’s Labyrinth (Huzzah!)

DOCUMENTARY: An Inconvenient Truth

FOREIGN FILM: The Lives of Others (sniffle)

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP: Pan’s Labyrinth (!)

ORIGINAL SCORE: Babel

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: The Departed

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Little Miss Sunshine

BEST ANIMATED SHORT: The Danish Poet

BEST LIVE-ACTION SHORT: West Bank Story (I’d like to see this–it looked pretty good!)

SOUND EDITING: Letters from Iwo Jima

SOUND MIXING: Dreamgirls

COSTUME DESIGN: Marie Antoinette

VISUAL EFFECTS: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest

DOCUMENTARY (SHORT SUBJECT): The Blood of Yingzhou District

ORIGINAL SONG: An Inconvenient Truth (Melissa Etheridge)

FILM EDITING: The Departed

DIRECTOR: Martin Scorsese (The Departed)

BEST PICTURE: The Departed

…

So, overall–

Pan’s Labyrinth won three out of the six it was nominated for! That’s not bad at all! (Plus, it will look very pretty and symmetrical on the DVD case, which is always good.) It also got the second-most number of Oscars this year, just behind The Departed, which won four. *shakes fist* A few surprises were Alan Arkin (Little Miss Sunshine) for Best Supporting Actor, Happy Feet for Best Animated Film, and Little Miss Sunshine for Best Original Screenplay.

My real reason for watching the Academy Awards, which is lacking in many respects as an institution for judgment of films (true objectiveness being one of them), is to discover new movies that look interesting. I’m ashamed to admit that I haven’t yet seen The Departed, Little Miss Sunshine, The Queen, Babel, or Happy Feet. I am therefore a complete disgrace and shall attempt to rectify this situation as soon as possible. Other films that look fascinating include Notes on a Scandal (yay, Judi Dench!), Children of Men, The Lives of Others, Water, West Bank Story, and The Blood of Yingzhou District.

Finally, I’m going to continue to shamelessly plug Pan’s Labyrinth. It’s indescribably superb. I think it may even be my favorite recent foreign film, though it’s difficult to beat Amelie. I’ll have to give that one some thought. Anyway, please, please, please see it as soon as you have the chance. You’ll love it. I promise

.

Why is it that nobody watches the Academy Awards anymore? Even my MOST film-obsessed friends have responded to the suggestion with a disdainful look or roll of the eyes. Granted, it’s not the most reliable source of film judgment, but it’s fun to watch! (Not all the red carpet stuff. That’s boring.) But for years now, I’ve had a tradition of watching the Academy Awards. It’s always interesting to see which clips they pick for each nominee, watch the host crack bad jokes, and root for films you want to win. Am I the only one who still enjoys this? Bah.

Tonight, I am watching the Academy Awards alone. I will cheer, I will laugh, I will glare, I will even throw things at the TV if necessary. And it will be glorious.

That being said, I haven’t even seen half the films that have been nominated. But I’m going to make predictions all the same! (There’s nothing like uninformed attempts at future-reading.)

ACTOR
Leonardo Di Caprio in “Blood Diamond”
Ryan Gosling in “Half Nelson”
Peter O’Toole in “Venus”
Will Smith in “The Pursuit of Happyness”
Forest Whitaker in “The Last King of Scotland”
Likely: Forest Whitaker
Wishful Thinking: Peter O’Toole

SUPPORTING ACTOR
Alan Arkin in “Little Miss Sunshine”
Jackie Earle Haley in “Little Children”
Djimon Hounsou in “Blood Diamond”
Eddie Murphy in “Dreamgirls”
Mark Wahlberg in “The Departed”
Likely: Eddie Murphy
Wishful Thinking: Alan Arkin

ACTRESS
Penelope Cruz in “Volver”
Judi Dench in “Notes on a Scandal”
Helen Mirren in “The Queen”
Meryl Streep in “The Devil Wears Prada”
Kate Winslet in “Little Children”
Likely: Helen Mirren
Wishful Thinking: Judi Dench (I always root for Judi Dench. Always. She is fabulous.)

SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Adriana Barraza in “Babel”
Cate Blanchett in “Notes on a Scandal”
Abigail Breslin in “Little Miss Sunshine”
Jennifer Hudson in “Dreamgirls”
Rinko Kikuchi in “Babel”
Likely: Jennifer Hudson
Wishful Thinking: Abigail Bresun

ANIMATED FILM
“Cars”
“Happy Feet”
“Monster House”
Likely: “Cars”
Wishful Thinking: “Happy Feet”

ART DIRECTION
“Dreamgirls”
“The Good Shepherd”
“Pan’s Labyrinth”
“Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”
“The Prestige”
Likely: “Dreamgirls”
Wishful Thinking: “Pan’s Labyrinth” (I’m rooting for this film for all 6 categories it was nominated in. It deserves to win everything it possibly can. If you haven’t seen it already, go out and do so immediately. It is spectacular.)

CINEMATOGRAPHY
“The Black Dahlia”
“Children of Men”
“The Illusionist”
“Pan’s Labyrinth”
“The Prestige”
Likely: “Children of Men”
Wishful Thinking: “Pan’s Labyrinth”

DOCUMENTARY
“Deliver Us from Evil”
“An Inconvenient Truth”
“Iraq in Fragments”
“Jesus Camp”
“My Country, My Country”
Likely: “An Inconvenient Truth”
Wishful Thinking: “An Inconvenient Truth” (The only one I’ve seen, and while I do have some complaints with it, it’s pretty well-done and effective.)

FOREIGN FILM
“After the Wedding” Denmark
“Days of Glory (Indigenes)” Algeria
“The Lives of Others” Germany
“Pan’s Labyrinth” Mexico
“Water” Canada
Likely: “The Lives of Others”
Wishful Thinking: “Pan’s Labyrinth” (pleeeaaase…)

ACHIEVEMENT IN MAKEUP
“Apocalypto”
“Click”
“Pan’s Labyrinth”
Likely: “Apocalypto”
Wishful Thinking: “Pan’s Labyrinth”

ORIGINAL SCORE
“Babel”
“The Good German”
“Notes on a Scandal”
“Pan’s Labyrinth”
“The Queen”
Likely: “The Queen”
Wishful Thinking: “Pan’s Labyrinth”

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
“Borat”
“Children of Men”
“The Departed”
“Little Children”
“Notes on a Scandal”
Likely: “The Departed”
Wishful Thinking: “Children of Men”

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
“Babel”
“Letters from Iwo Jima”
“Little Miss Sunshine”
“Pan’s Labyrinth”
“The Queen”
Likely: “Babel”
Wishful Thinking: “Pan’s Labyrinth”

DIRECTOR
“Babel” Alejandro González Iñárritu
“The Departed” Martin Scorsese
“Letters from Iwo Jima” Clint Eastwood
“The Queen” Stephen Frears
“United 93” Paul Greengrass
Likely: Martin Scorsese
Wishful Thinking: Alejandro González Iñárritu

BEST PICTURE
Babel
The Departed
Letters from Iwo Jima
Little Miss Sunshine
The Queen
Likely: “The Departed”
Wishful Thinking: “Little Miss Sunshine”

…

…

Reactions to final results will be posted later :)

Another thing that I thought would make an interesting class discussion is the question of the creative commons license. Nokuthula Mazibuko published her book under this license, which basically gives permission for anyone else to add to it as long as it’s not offensive in some way. She explained that her reason for doing this is that it’s not just a story that can be told by one person–many people are involved with stories, and they should be allowed (and encouraged) to add to this. Also coming into play is the idea of a South African tradition of storytelling. In oral traditions like this, stories go through many people and consequently many versions, but gain meaning rather than losing it by this experience. This is an interesting idea to apply to literature, or any form of art. Think of a piece of music under a creative commons license and the transformations it might undergo as various composers change it and build upon it. On the one hand, the original composer might feel a little resentful that his or her work is being taken away from its original form and intent. (Though if he/she puts it under creative commons, I’m assuming that this feeling wouldn’t actually be a factor.) On the other hand, consider what an amazing work of art it could become after scores (no pun intended) of musicians have their way with it.

I’m not sure if I’d be able to put any of my work under a creative commons license. However, I think that the decision to do that would be primarily based upon what type of work it was. If it’s non-fiction or biographical, or even opinion, then I probably wouldn’t have as many reservations in that area. But I’m not so sure how I’d feel about other people tampering with a work of short fiction or a piece of artwork. Does willingness to put something under a creative commons license simply depend on context and subject matter, or is it more a general frame of mind?

I’m copy/pasting a reaction I wrote for another class on this, because I think it ties in well:

Having attended both the film screening on Wednesday and the reading on Thursday, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about Nokuthula Mazibuko’s work. What I was expecting for both was very different from what it ended up being, at least for me. I thought that the film would be centered on the violence and injustice of apartheid and the specific student protests that ended tragically. However, the compilation of interviews and photographs that the documentary consisted of seemed to emphasize individual experiences of the events and people involved. It’s difficult to describe the exact angle of the story she was attempting to capture, but I would say that it was much more about the experiences and individuals rather than the event itself. There was no emotion involved, for the most part—merely statement of fact. This is interesting to me, because I expected the people who experienced the events to have more extreme feelings about it, I suppose. At the same time, I think this reflects the world view that she was trying to emphasize about everyone being connected, and the importance of not attaching blame and moving forward, rather than focusing on something in the past. This must be a fairly foreign concept to most western audiences, but it really is a wonderful and unique concept. Emphasis is placed on the present and future; the past is simply a collection of experiences that can be learned from and improved upon, not a source of negative emotion or blame. Usually when I view a film or documentary, I look for a main point. Not finding one initially, I was a little disappointed. However, upon further thought I realized that it wasn’t supposed to be about the event itself, but the people. And not even about their reactions, really—just how they are now. How it shaped them. And what they’re doing with their lives as a result. The excerpts from her novel were similarly focused, even when quoting a woman who was tortured in prison and lost her husband to a car bomber. The tone wasn’t angry, depressed, or regretful—it was all very matter-of-fact. The past is important only in the context of the present and future. This idea, while definitely foreign—and even jarring—at first, is growing on me.

I’m curious–what are everyone else’s thoughts on this? What did you think of her documentary and/or writing? I wasn’t sure I liked the film at first, but now I’m wondering if it was simply because I was looking for the wrong point…