Oscar Nominations 2012
These lame duck nominations serve to highlight that 2011 really was a BORING year in film. A non-fiction flick about baseball? Yawn. A boy and his war horse? Snooze. George Clooney being an asshole in Hawaii? Blah.
Although movies about women rose to meteroic box office success via Bridesmaids and The Help, they certainly aren’t represented in the Best Picture nominations. There is only one movie on the Best Picture roster that would pass the Bechdel test for women or race. It manages to accomplish both. As far as I’m concerned, it’s the only movie I’m even pulling for. Yeah, I’m talking about The Help.
Usually this time of year I’m in a mad scramble to view all the Oscar nominated films before the big day, but I can predict from this vantage point who is going to win based on all the politicking that comprises these awards ceremonies. Please be advised, these are my knee jerk reactions.
Best Picture: The Artist (Hollywood is predictable in it’s love and lavishing of praise upon feel good “foreign” films)
Best Director: Martin Scorsese – Hugo
Best Actor: Brad Pitt – Moneyball
Best Actress: Michelle Williams – My Week with Marilyn
Best Supporting Actor: Jonah Hill – Moneyball
Best Supporting Actress: Octavia Spencer – The Help
Best Original Screenplay: Bridesmaids – Annie Mumolo, Kristen Wiig
Best Adapted Screenplay: The Ides of March – George Clooney
Perhaps I will watch The Artist, which is the only flick with the potential to shake up the predictable picks. Also, I reserve the right to completely change my mind by Oscar air date, so friends and family who usually bet in our Oscar party pool, don’t go getting any ideas.
My favorite films of the year were all comic book or science fiction related, and those will never be deemed worthy of Oscar material. No bitterness here, right? Really, there is a bit of bitterness. I don’t expect anyone to give loads of love and credit to all my super nerdy interests. But I hoped for at least a nod to Young Adult.
Is anyone else over the George Clooney and Brad Pitt bromance? Clooney’s acceptance speech at the Golden Globes was kinda barfy. We get that you guys are the hottest thang in Hollywood right now. Good work.
There is a twinge of sadness for the dudes who got shut out. What about Leonardo DiCaprio who’s been in a string of good films in the last five or six years while going completely un-noticed? Or Ryan Gosling who has busted his butt in independent flicks and whom you couldn’t possibly ignore this year if you were living or breathing in the world. Also Michael Fassbender, my favorite sharp tooth Magneto who stole the show in X-Men, Jane Eyre and apparently flopped his wang out for Shame (on my “to see” list). Poor guys. Don’t you know Clooney and Pitt will never gracefully share the spotlight? They are like the Jay-Z of their medium. While they exist, very few others can rise in the game, unless given the blessings of royalty. Even then, it’s tough competition.
Am I wrong in these assertions? What are your Oscar picks?
Guest Post: Dan’s Birthday List 2012
**Guest post by Dan Robertson, send all complaints to Dan@TheMindBullet.com
My birthday is rolling around (March 14th) and every year about this time I make up a list of things that have their awesome turned up to 11. You can expect random, expensive and amazing tech gadgets to follow:
#1. NFC Micro SD Card
Retail: $75ish (Price not final from Moneto)
My current phone is a LG G2x. Great little device, lots of power, great screen but no NFC. And I want Google Wallet. The NFC SD card from moneto debuted at CES 2012 and gives any iPhone/Blackberry/Android phone access to all the NFC goodness you could want! In case you are wondering the device is still an SD still has storage, only 4gb currenlty but they are working on more.
Finally! I can pay for a Big Mac with my phone!!
#2. JawBone Up
Retail: $99.99
I think this year is going to see a lot of devices that start to take advantage of your ubiquitous internet connection via your phone. I am speaking of watches that connect to you phone via Bluetooth and tell you who’s calling without having to take your phone out your pocket, or piloting a quadrocoper via remote video and your phone as the controller.
The Jawbone Up is a bracelet you wear, it works as a pedometer, tracks your location, and your sleep patterns (via the accelerometer), it uses your phones internet connection to upload this data and compile it into a readout that will help you better understand how you live and work. In addition it has a really cool wake feature. Since the Up is able to see and understand what level of sleep you are in, it can pick just the right time to wake you feeling refreshed and awake, it does so with a series of vibrations. I am excited to try this out and review the metadata it is able to collect on myself.
Creepy computer monitoring me from afar: Check!
#3. Bluetooth Headphones:
Retail: $47.99
A wireless headset is a pretty basic idea. I like the foam ‘earplug’ style, it’s like noise cancelling, but cheaper. I go through my $10.00 Target bought Skull Candy headphones about one pair a month. The reason is the damn jack, it’s ALWAYS BREAKING. So I have decided I want something without a jack. And here we go.
Now I can talk to myself like a crazy person walking down the street!
Nerd Fun With Photoshop
Here are some of my most favorite creations for this term’s Beginning Photoshop class.
These were created in less than an hour, because I had a freaking deadline to meet. The Boba Fett in pimp attire received quite a bit of mileage. Did I mention it’s a Beginning Photoshop class?
Boba Fett Superstar
It’s hard to improve on Pimp Boba Fett, but I think pink glitter stars are pretty close.
The Trouble with Tribbles
My folks are Star Trek loving nerds. The tribbles were an added bonus. Also – that guy photo-bombing.
Boba Fett Beach
I imagine that Pimp Boba Fett uses a lot of hearts to punctuate his exclamation points.
Don’t worry, this won’t become a crappy Photoshop photo-journal. These were simply the highlight of an entire day spent fighting software (teeth gnashing, hair pulling, tear inducing). They brought joy to my heart and made me giggle.
Here they are world. For your LOL pleasure.
Random Thoughts While Re-Watching Beauty and the Beast
Random Thought #1
This year old Beauty and the Beast Blu-Ray looks like shit. 20 years ago this seemed like the very zenith of animation. I remember the ballroom dance scene taking my breath away. Belle was gorgeous and had the most exquisite complexion and perfect brown hair. In 2012, no matter what medium I’m viewing it on – it looks horrid. The colors are so blown out, bright and the animation is so quickly sketched, I had to call Dan in from the other room to make sure it wasn’t mine eyes deceiving me. The first few minutes I was watching an 8-year-old DVD, so swapped it out for a year old Blu-Ray. It looked the exact same, even though Disney was claiming it was digitally remastered or some shit.
How about no? It looked pretty on the movie advertisement I just watched for the 3D theatrical release. The black lines are less harsh. It was all in the black lines – there was white bleeding through all over the place. And in general, it looks like some second-rate bullshit.
Granted, I’ve been fed a steady diet of CGI loveliness for the last 10 or so years, but come on – The Princess and the Frog is beautiful and not so harsh on the eyes. Am I alone in thinking this particular film has some of the shittiest animation in the Disney cadre (not counting all of the sequels)? It looks like something Don Bluth was putting out at the time – it has none of the depth or quality that The Lion King or Aladdin did. Granted, The all these flicks referenced came out post-Beauty. But it was also post-The Little Mermaid, which looks better as well. *shrug* I dunno.
Random Thought #2
One of the biggest complaints in feminist circles against the movie/story is that Belle sacrifices her dreams for a grander life by shacking up with the Beast and falling in lurve. Uhm, guys? The story book she most fondly remembers (nay, even sings about) is a tale about a chick meeting Prince Charming. Sure, she doesn’t want to settle down and marry the chauvinist and manipulating Gaston. But she does want to find her Prince Charming. If folks are looking for a feminist heroine in Belle, they will end up disappointed every time.
Actually, on the heroine spectrum – I would say Belle most resembles Bella. And along that same vein, I would suggest that Twilight and Beauty and the Beast have some eerie similarities. There’s even a magical transformation in the end. Beast is kind of a dick, like Edward. He is overbearing, stalkerish and harsh. Belle is willing to sacrifice her entire life for her Dad. She falls in love with a violent, scary dude who imprisons others and threatens to starve her.
So yeah – that’s all weird. Is my reading off? At least the first Twilight book has Beauty and the Beast trappings, no?
Random Thought #3
I liked Beast better than Prince Whatever Big Nose. For looks and general attitude. Even as a kid I remember being totally charmed by the angry, yet comically bumbling bull/wolf creature and strongly preferring him to the creepy white guy who arose in his stead.
The messaging is all wrong. I know – the magic rose and the poor servants trapped as inanimate objects – but damn, Beast was kinda hot. I mean, hotter than the unattractive white dude he becomes. Also, what’s with the servants singing songs about preferring to serve? “Life is un-nerving for a servant whose not serving.” Huh. These folks would rather serve a bitchy master hand and foot than you know, have a twenty year staycation as a clock or candlestick? That’s a stretch for me.
I would have rather kept Beast in his Beast form. The servants could have changed if they liked. And maybe, as a show of gratitude, Beast could have released them from service since they did endure weird magics on his behalf. Just sayin’.
Final Thoughts: While this movie has some of my favorite musical numbers, it generally gets a bad rap for being creepy (imprisonment, forced engagements, and talking feather dusters) and that’s well-deserved. One of my favorites, with reservations.
Raising Weeds: A Review Mash-Up
Managed to bank away the first seasons of both Raising Hope and Weeds in the last few days while doing all the busy work of Winter Term Week One. The answer to which one I liked more might surprise you.
It was Raising Hope by a longshot. Weeds, while clever, sardonic and often-times morbid, just doesn’t have the grace, spirit and ludicrous details that makes Raising Hope much more enjoyable to watch. Weeds is bitter and skunky. Hope is happy and sentimental.
Weeds gets a small reprieve from my ire in the form of timing. The first season aired in 2005, pre housing crash, pre economic depression and pre layoffs in my immediate family. Back when times were still looking good and the upper middle class thought their bubbly gated communities would never burst or crumble to the ground.
Sadly or happily, depending on how you feel about rich folks, all that has changed for the most part. It’s no longer insane to think that a comfortable wealthy family would fall on hard times and self-destruct or turn to illegal means to maintain their plush existence.
The only thing that leaves a sour note? Many families did meet this sad end in the last four years and didn’t think that turning to crime was the best answer. They walked away from their Range Rover, McMansion, In-ground pool and live-in-maid to rebuild their lives by doing something most of us have to in order to sustain ourselves. Work.
I should love Weeds because Mary Louise Parker is so bad ass and the show revolves around a sistah doing it for herself. But I just freaking don’t. Her socio-economic status over-rides gender at every turn. There are no likable characters, they are all self-involved and self-indulgent.
There was some promise in the first season when I thought she was going to turn her business front into a legitimate enterprise. That could have been an interesting plotline a single mother involving juggling a bakery and marijuana distribution – “baked” goods. Maybe this was the dark comedic response to Desperate Housewives? Whatever the case – I finished up season one dutifully and can’t say that I’ll be returning to Agrestic anytime soon.
Star Wars the Old Republic: Controversial Twi’lek Slave is Controversial
It’s Wednesday and a sad day when I can’t even work up the energy to get even a little bit irate about the Twi’lek slave companion with shock collar option in the Star Wars the Old Republic MMORPG.
Unwittingly opened my browser this morning to a storm of controversy about whether or not having a sexy female slave in a shock collar and being able to punish her at will is problematic or not. And yes, I do think Twi’leks are sexy. Those brain tails man. Unf.
So here goes – slaves are problematic. Women as slaves are deeply problematic.
If you can shock this beautiful blue face, you're a monster. Just sayin'.
Do fangirls feel uncomfortable with another female being forcibly enslaved and brutally punished? Yes.
Does this hurt fanboys feelings because it’s all in good fun and you’re an evil Sith killing loads of people anyways? Yes.
Can fangirls just get over it? No.
Can fanboys just be OK with fangirls NOT being OK with it? No.
*I would have included “some” or “many” here as qualifiers but that should be obvious.*
So there are female attempts at explaining their reactions to this information and then men start to mansplain and then men-apologists back up their assertions and then people who’ve never played the game chime in with their two cents. I’d like to pretend that I care more. But today is a sad day because I really don’t. Fairly certain men and women of all ages will mistreat this poor imaginary creature and fap all over themselves while they do it. There is nothing to stop them.
Do I wish the game developers had been a bit smarter about all of this? Of course. It would be nice to have the female perspective considered when games are being put together.
Just last night I had to endure the most wince-worthy few hours of gaming yet because someone told the creators of Gears of War 3 they should include female characters. So I get to hear dude banter about “a woman serving with the COG” for two hours, in which she has to be called ugly, etc, etc and run down by the Baird character I was playing. You know – instead of interesting game play or dialogue.
Saluting the United States of Tara
Finished up the third and final season of United States of Tara today.
Yes, I’m on a Diablo Cody binge right now. Decided to give it a spin after having mixed feelings regarding Young Adult and to a certain extent – Jennifer’s Body and Juno. I just might be the only person on the internet that didn’t really have a problem with Jennifer’s Body. In fact, as a horror fan, I thought it was spoofy and high fun. It seemed to both mock and alternately love the horror genre in ways few flicks manage to get right.
The Ginger Snaps comparisons are lost on me. I’ve seen both and didn’t once think of Ginger Snaps while watching Jennifer’s Body. If anything, I thought of the original Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie. All the goobery dialogue and tongue-in-cheekness there.
Also – how hard does a female writer have to work to get some respect up in H-Town ya’ll? She won a damned Academy Award and at least two characters she helped script have either won major awards or been nominated (possibly a third depending how Young Adult fares). And still, she gets a ton of e-hate and bitchy comments cause she stripped for a year or something. I don’t even know. But it totally has nothing to do with her gender or anything. Carry on.
Back to United States of Tara: The show is about a woman with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) leading a suburban life in Kansas, raising two children with her husband who is a self-employed landscaper.
Cody’s skills as a creator and writer are on fine display here. I was wary approaching it – a bit burnt out on mental illness as comedy fodder, or reality TV fodder, or fodder in general.
What struck me? In the same way that Juno struck me? The mid-west normalcy. The harkening back to classic TV shows that I identified with in my youth, like Roseanne. A family living together using sarcasm, humor and love to sustain themselves. Only mental illness fills the role of economic hardship as the main struggle in the lives of the Gregsons.
Movie Review: Young Adult
Young Adult was a bit of a surprise. Expected to like it much more than I did – with all the feminist overtones and multi-dimensional, flawed female character rumors swirling about on the interwebs. This was the second pairing of screenwriter Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman, their previous venture being the much beloved Juno.
THE GOOD
Charlize Theron is phenomenal in this role. She swaggers across the screen in her Uggs and sweatpants, chomping up the scenery with her ice-cold glare and washing it down with giant swigs of Diet Coke. Her moments of extreme cattiness, minus the awkward attempts at seduction are gleeful rather than off-putting. I would watch an entire movie of mean Mavis and love every minute of it. I’m sure that’s wrong, but I don’t care.
Other good bits? Matt and Mavis had chemistry. Patton Oswalt is such a lovable curmudgeon. While they glowed together in their general dislike of the world, I would hate to be drunk in a bar with them. Their level of bitter and hate is best viewed from a distance.
I was also thrilled by the little scenes with Mavis planning out her outfits, packing/unpacking, getting mani/pedis, putting on her hair and makeup. Those simple daily ritualistic acts that often define the female gender but are usually never displayed in films except for comedic effect. These scenes had a completely different tone. For Mavis it was like putting on a suit of armor to head out into battle. The calculation and effort with which she went about it was strangely compelling.
THE BAD
Unfortunately, we are largely treated to small, shining moments of mean Mavis and then long, extended periods of uncomfortable tension. Awkward scenes of wooing a clearly disinterested and skeeved out ex-boyfriend. Another horrible scene around her parents dinner table where she waxes effusive about her high school days and then promptly announces she’s an alcoholic. Her parents react with blank stares. Oh poor BBZ. Mavis is lacking a serious amount of love in her life.
Three British Period Pieces Worth Watching
Blame it on a horrid stomach bug, but I’ve spent the last week fascinated by three separate BBC miniseries. All available now on Netflix Instant Watch.
The plot itself is a bit Pride and Prejudice mixed with some Dickensian characters and commentary on poverty and the Industrial Revolution. It’s four episodes long, but very beautifully shot. Beautiful for BBC – who isn’t notorious for having the most crisp or clean-looking productions. But I can’t get the images of the white fluffs of cotton blowing around in the factory out of my head.
Features some spot-on acting by Richard Armitage and Daniela Denby-Ashe, who both do fine jobs portraying smoldering romance with fluttering eyes and lips. Other actors worth mentioning are Sinead Cusack as the crotchety but sympathetic mother foil, Brendan Coyle as union rabble rouser and Anna Maxwell Martin as a town girl with a chronic illness.
Be sure to watch this fan-vid after you view the series. It’s perfect.
It struck a cord immediately – reminding me of a serialized Gosford Park and both of which I assume owe some kind of nod to Upstairs, Downstairs which is a series I’ve never seen myself. Either way, I much prefer Downton Abbey because it is visually quite a bit nicer than most of the other BBC television productions. Probably because it’s ITV. Oh snap. J/K BBC, I still love you.
Perhaps it’s not breaking any new territory in terms of focusing on the lives of nobility and their household staff, but I was immediately drawn to it – recognizing Brendan Coyle from North & South, as well as Joanne Froggatt from Robin Hood. And of course – Maggie Smith and Penelope Wilton. Hugh Bonneville is wonderful too – though I didn’t immediately recognize him from something, his face was very familiar.
My only beef with this show is that the passage of time is not obvious (all the sudden the characters were like “well, it’s been two years”). The Titanic sinking was a great series opener and ended with World War I kicking off. Only eight episodes available on Netflix right now. I know there are at least sixteen.
Blogging Resolutions for 2012
This is the first year I’ve managed to maintain the blog through the holidays. Believe me, it hasn’t been easy. But I feel pretty pleased with the results of sticking it out.
The consistent focus on writing + winter break with no job or school to consume my thoughts led me to mull over the future of the blog. It’s been a rocky four years. Yep – Tiny Heroes will be four years old in March 2012. Kinda crazy. I’ve had slow success and then popularity and then failure and then slow success again with this venture.
I’ve had some time to consider what posts on Tiny Heroes were popular, appropriate, on theme…and what the holy hell the theme of this blog is.
The blog theme of Tiny Heroes is whatever the DH and I are passionate about. And that will change as our interests change. But largely it’s nerd stuff – comic books, genre entertainment, tech, and geek events.
Coupon info and hiking pictures and other mullings don’t really belong here. That’s why I’ve moved them to Melinda Not Mindy.
Tiny Heroes deserves a new layout. It’s had the same tired look for the last four years – and has become increasingly clogged with all sorts of social networking trivia. It was high time we cleaned it up.
Here are the 2012 blogging resolutions:
1. All blog posts on theme.
2. 600 word maximum posts.
3. Posts three times a week.
4. Weekly comic book/book/movie review
5. Monthly guest post
These aren’t promises. More like…guidelines. These goals are what I’d like to achieve in the coming year. Hope you’ll stick around for awhile. Think you might like it. 
tinyheroes
Dan
