Thursday, January 10, 2013

The Oscar goes to...

Well, we won't know who gets the Oscar until February 24 (By the way, Seth MacFarlane is hosting. He's hilarious.). But as of this morning, we know who has a chance.

There are nine nominees for Best Picture; I saw three (Argo, Life of Pi, Lincoln). All were amazing. I thought Argo should absolutely win - until I saw Lincoln.

As a matter of fact, I think Lincoln should win any category in which it's nominated, because the movie was just that good.

At the very least, it should win Best Picture, Best Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis) and Best Director (hello, Mr. Spielberg). Though I thought DDL should win for Best Actor as soon as I saw the movie, I admit I'm scratching my head as to how Ben Affleck's name was left off the list for his performance in Argo. I'm assuming that letter must have gotten lost in the mail, because he was amazing and the only one who could really give DDL a run for his money.

For Cinematography, it's actually a tie in my mind between Lincoln and Life of Pi - an amazing movie that's definitely worth seeing.

Best Original Score should probably go to Skyfall. I saw the movie; I'm not a fan of the James Bond franchise, and I didn't like the movie all that much. My understanding is that makes me "wrong" and "crazy." (For what it's worth, the movie wasn't nominated in very many categories. So I'm not the only one.)

I've heard wonderful things about Django Unchained (too violent for my taste), Les Miserables (not my thing), and Zero Dark Thirty (can't do it). I'm not even sure I've ever heard of Silver Linings Playbook or Amour. Luckily, the official Oscar website has trailers for all nominated films.

I do love a good movie, and I hope the best movies, actors, actresses, directors, cosutme designers, editors, etc. win. But my favorite part of Oscar night?

The fashion! Yay for red carpet coverage.

Monday, January 7, 2013

Save a little

I fell over my own personal fiscal cliff last week when my paycheck was deposited into my bank account, and I found out how much more of my money the government will be keeping this year.

Sigh.

But...I still like this idea that's being passed around on Facebook. I'm in - I moved my $1 from checking to savings last week (for week one) and will keep it up throughout 2013.

Friday, January 4, 2013

Resolve to be nice

OK, so we all know that a lot of people resolve to lose weight, get fit, etc. for New Years. If you go to a gym regularly (or even semi-regularly, like me) you know that means from January to about mid-March, the gym is extra-crowded.

I'll admit - if you're at the gym all the time, I can see why that could be annoying. I mean - you're always there, and you have your routine - and here comes all these annoying people to disrupt your place and your time.

But wait - it's not your gym, right?

Speaking from (ongoing) experience, it's tough enough to get motivated to go to the gym when it's the absolute last thing you want to do. It's even tougher when you know you're going to show up looking so much worse than so many other people - and tougher still when you know those people don't want you there, anyway.

The thing I find most amusing (read: annoying) is the people who complain about the "resolutioners" are often (not always) the same people who put down others for being overweight. Because, you know, all overweight people got that way by being lazy, self-indulgent slobs.

Just so we're all clear - you can't stand people who don't work out, think it means they're all lazy, and you have no problem saying "why don't you just lose weight?" - but you just don't want them doing that in a way that inconveniences you.

I get it - you consider yourself among those who workout hard, take care of yourself, and focus on fitness, and you consider all of that to be a positive way to live your life. I'm not saying you shouldn't be proud of that - I'm just saying, maybe consider sharing some of that positive attitude with those who could use a little encouragement?

I'm not suggesting you jump off your treadmill to make room for someone else, or do a cheer as you walk by someone new lifting weights. But you could keep the scowl to yourself, stick to the time limit for your machine (which, by the way, are always in effect, not just in January), and quit your bitching.

I have an idea - since you've already got this whole fitness thing licked - why not try making "be nicer to others" your New Years Resolution?

I promise, us nice people won't even grumble at you.