100 And Counting

I think it's safe to say that this years Oscars were a HUGH-GE Success!

I think Hugh Jackman was a fabulous host;and I'd love to see him there again. I've even wondered if his success might inspire Billy Crystal to take another stab at it - hmm. Hugh was the consummate performer and I found him thoroughly entertaining. He really set the tone.
I truly appreciated the Academy's efforts to save money by having the same presenters for multiple awards; however,I thought it was EXTREMELY tacky of them to pan to Angelina while Jennifer Aniston was presenting her awards. Yes, Yes, I know that we were all wondering what was going on in the minds of Jen, Brad and Angelina; but everyone at my house gave a big old "Oh know they didn't" when that happened.
Although I really enjoyed the show in its entirety; some of the highlights for me were, when Kunio Kato (who won the Oscar for his animated short La Maison en Petits Cubes) was accepting his award and after thanking his pencil he said "Domo arigato Mr. Roboto." CLASSIC! Now THAT was funny; and when Sean Penn began his acceptance speech by saying "You commie, homo-loving sons of guns;" loved it!
Then of course, there was the fashion. My faves included Sarah Jessica Parker , Natalie Portman, Penelope Cruz, Kate Winslett and Meryl Streep

The misses for me included The Black and Blue girls; Queen Latifah and Reese Witherspoon. I adore them both, really, I do; but their dresses were dreadful. Tilda Swinton just plain scares me. I think Peter Jackson must have dressed Phillip Seymour Hoffman for the night. If he were alive I might have guessed that Ray Charles dressed Whoppi Goldeberg for the night; (I mean leopard print moo-moo really?) And what can I politely say about Sophia Loren? I can't even bear to show you a picture of that one; but suffice it to say she looked extremely weathered and was dressed as a lamp from a French bordello. Ok, so maybe that wasn't SO polite - sorry Sophia.

I was VERY happy for Kate Winslett's win as her performance really was outstanding. I think it's a mark of a great actress when you forget who SHE is, and see her totally as the charachter. This was the case for me with kate and "The Reader. I'm very happy that the World has embraced "Slumdog Millionaire' and if you haven't seen it yet; it came out on DVD on Feb 24th.

It is genuinely surreal to me that another Oscar season has come and gone; and that this is actually my 100th post. I feel like I've got a lot of kinks to work out; but I'm hoping that you'll stick it out with me. During the past 99 posts, I know that I've had a couple of real hits and I've really tanked some as well; but I'm going to try and toughen my skin up and press on. I have been the Queen of Self Doubt lately (OK; not just lately) and I have really been questioning my decision to pursue a writing career. I honestly can say that every fiber of my being tells me that I should be a writer; but I know that I need to be even MORE selective about my subject matter. You know they say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Well I guess I can cancel my reservation at the local sanitarium, because I don't EXPECT different results; however, I am fully aware that I have made some bad choices - and I am dedicated to not letting that happen again.

I thank everyone that reads The Bumpy Ride; and I hope that you will continue to do so. I think there may have been some problems with the feed lately, so if you notice that you aren't getting at least a weekly post, please try to sign up for the feed again.

Till next time...

Queen of EVERYTHING

You Know You Have a Problem When... #4

You know you have a problem when... You run an annual Oscar pool, and not only haven't you seen any of the potential nominees; but you've never even heard of them!
Do I REALLY have to say anymore... Probably not; but it is "The Bumpy Ride"after all; so off we go.

I honestly cannot believe that it's this time of year already. I know that over the past few years, the Oscars have been coming earlier and earlier, but it just doesn't seem that long ago that I wrapped up my pool from last year. Oscar pool that is - Gold statues, Botox, Movie stars. Y'all come back now - ya hear. (OK, so I indulge myself a little bit from time to time- I'm allowed.)
But I digress. It seems appropriate to me, that I should blog about my Oscar pool, since it actually was the precursor for "The Bumpy Ride."
I believe that I have previously mentioned that I am The Oscar Mistress; of my pool and as such, I send several emails to the participants. I often comment on the outcomes of the award shows that occur prior to the Oscar's, the speeches, the attire etc. You know me - Queen of COMMENTING; and so after several lengthy, opinionated emails, I thought that I might try my hand at blogging and that is how "The Bumpy Ride" was conceptualized. I can't believe my 2 year anniversary is right around the corner. I may just have to make it my goal to get 100 blogs in by my anniversary date; so please stay tuned.

Anyway, I don't know what rock I have been living under; (perhaps it's the rock of work, my family, my blog, SFTIO, soccer, the soccer board, the gym - hmmm) but seriously, when I watched the Golden Globes, I had never even heard of the majority of the movies that were up for awards. Maybe I really need to stop watching 2 month old episodes of General Hospital - LOL I mean if I was current on my TV viewing then I would see adds for current movies - tell me, is Legally Blonde 2 still playing? ha ha - just kidding. But you get the point.

I have always had the luck of getting information in a timely manner. What I mean is; I might not have been up on something (in the news, usually) but somehow, just at the right time I find out about it, so that when someone mentions it to me I don't wind up sounding like a blithering idiot; because I actually (by some stroke of luck) know what they're talking about. Well, this was NOT the case the other day at soccer. I was talking to my friend Theresa (who is in the pool) and she was mentioning how Frost?Nixon was expected to take several awards. Well, I had never heard of Frost/Nixon and she couldn't think of the name of the movie. She was trying to describe it, and she was saying "You know; the one about Nixon;" and I said "You mean W?" Oh yes I did (you can feel bad for me; it's OK, I know that's pretty pathetic - but in my mind he's just as bad if not worse, so it made perfect sense to me.) Anyway, so I knew that there was going to be some movie that had something to do with Nixon. Then she said that she had seen "Slumdog Millionaire," but since I had never heard of that either, I just nodded because I had no idea what she was even saying. BUT, fast forward to the Golden Globes and "Slumdog" kicked some major booty. I TOTALLY want to see it now; and posted my status on Facebook as "Dying to see Slumdog Millionaire," and you would not believe how many people sent me messages telling me how amazing it is. SO, in case you've never heard of it, or haven't seen it - I have received MANY, MANY recommendations so you may want to check it out.

I think the biggest shock of the Golden Globes HAD to be that Mickey Rourke beat Sean Penn for the Best Actor in a drama category. Now, don't get me wrong. I used to love me some Mickey Rourke, back in the day. When I was in college (in Southampton;) we could not get very good TV reception, so we watched a lot of videos; and one of the videos that I owned and watched over and over again, was "9 1/2 Weeks;" and Why did I watch "9 1/2 Weeks" over and over again? That's right - because I'm a pervert. LOL No, no, just kidding - I watched it because I thought that Mickey Rourke was a freakin hottie!! Another movie that I love,that I used to watch over and over was "Diner," and yah, so Mickey Rourke just happened to be in that too - so you see what I mean here. I'm not picking on the Rourkster; I'm just saying that I don't think ANYONE, ever thought that Mick was the caliber actor that Spicolli is (oh, I am sorry I am just cracking myself up) OK, I mean Mr. Penn. And yet, he took it. Mickey got up there, and thanked his dogs; and not in the same way that Randy Jackson would mean it. He thanked his dogs past and present because he said "Sometimes all a man's got is his dogs."
OK, and so the fella did NOT age well. But I think we can attribute that to several years of hard living and many, many (failed) plastic surgeries. Look what A cutie he was; and I hate to say it but this "Now" pic, isn't even AS BAD as he actually looks right now - "Oh Mickey; you're (NOT) so fine." So sorry to have to say that. And PLEASE don't leave me a comment telling me that if can't say anything nice...

So, let me just say that I am SO excited for this year's Oscar nominations to be announced. I think it is going to be a GREAT year for the pool. A Great year for the Oscar's and if anyone would like more information about the pool, please email me at AsktheQOE@gmail.com It doesn't matter if I don't know you personally, because I don't know the majority of the people in the pool. The pool has grown by word of mouth from friends; so there are no total strangers, but most I will probably never meet.
The Oscar nominations will be announced at 530AM Pacific time on Thursday, January 22nd. The Oscar's will take place on Sunday Feb 22nd and be hosted by Hugh Jackman; which I am actually very optimistic about; even though he's no Billy Crystal. Now, how often do you think Billy Crystal will ever hear that being said - or Hugh Jackman for that matter? I mean other than comparing them as Oscar hosts, would anyone EVER say "That Hugh Jackman; he's no Billy Crystal;" LOL. Just something to think about.
Till next time...
Queen of EVERYTHING