before the golden globes later, see how your favorites fared in the earlier awards shows…

people’s choice awards are voted by the people and critics’ choice awards are voted by critics. duh. i just had to explain why twilight wins somewhere. it’s hard to swallow, but the people has spoken.

i will not waste your time.

here are the major winners of the 2010 critics choice awards:

best picture: the hurt locker

best director: kathryn bigelow (the hurt locker)

best original screenplay: quentin tarantino (inglourious basterds)

best actor: jeff bridges (crazy heart)

best actress: meryl streep (julie & julia) and sandra bullock (the blind side)

best supporting actor: christoph waltz (inglourious basterds)

best supporting actress: mo’nique (precious)

best acting ensemble: inglourious basterds

best adapted screenplay: jason reitman and sheldon turner (up in the air)

major winners of the people’s choice awards:

favorite talk show: the ellen degeneres show

favorite on screen team: the twilight saga

favorite tv comedy: the big bang theory

favorite r&b artist: mariah carey

favorite tv comedy actor: steve carrell

favorite tv comedy actress: alyson hannigan

favorite country artist: carrie underwood

favorite tv drama actor: hugh laurie

favorite tv drama: house

favorite movie actress: sandra bullock

favorite movie actor: johnny depp

favorite male artist: eminem / keith urban

favorite female artist: taylor swift

favorite comedic star: jim carrey

favorite rock band: paramore

favorite comedy movie: the proposal

favorite movie: twilight

favorite tv drama actress: katherine heigl

favorite independent movie: inglourious basterds

favorite pop artist: lady gaga

and for those of you whose time i have wasted with the winners because they would rather see the red carpet dresses, below are the ones i find interesting in one way or another. unlike the golden globes and the oscars, the earlier awards shows are less formal. thus, since the ladies can wear short dresses, we get to see more shoes.

images from zimbio.

critics’ choice awards red carpet

people’s choice awards red carpet

atlanta raises boston with 10,000 people. most of them are likely to be family and friends of the contestants, but that’s still an insane number.

at this point, i am really really really missing paula already. i mean i’ve been missing her since boston, but after a day of kara and starting another, i wish paula pulls a fast one on us and suddenly shows up. i stuffed my face with ice cream and yogurt to cushion the pain of loss, but i don’t think we can do anything to bring her back to idol now. paula was the “nice judge”, whether she was built up to portray the persona or she really was that nice in real life, it doesn’t matter. she was the one who tried to comfort and console contestants after simon or randy hurt their feelings. kara seems to just stoke the fire and at times even starts the fire altogether. like bikini girl last year and andrew fenlon this year. i still can’t get over that, can i?

the rumor mill turns and people are speculating a paula comeback in x-factor with simon next year. others say she should judge so you think you can dance. paula in sytycd would be a stupendous idea.

still no ellen in atlanta. many haters out there not liking ellen on idol one bit, saying, how can she judge a singing competition when she has no background in music and her moves don’t cut it? they can hate all they want because ellen will always be idol’s biggest and most famous fan, so the anti-ellen campaign can just put a sock in it. don’t hate on ellen for replacing paula… paula should have stayed and kara should have left instead for ellen to take her place.

check it out, here is paula hosting vh1 divas with an ellen parody (look at paula dance! she’s still got the groove!):

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJaat0Ofl7I&hl=en_US&fs=1&color1=0x006699&color2=0x54abd6]

wait, we’re talking about the atlanta auditions here, right? mary j. blige, the woman that needs no introduction, guest judges atlanta.

for the first time, the auditions are held where contestants have to brave a lonesome elevator ride up to the 27th floor. just like the hollywood week culmination, cameras are rolling inside the elevator, so the tension, the elation and the defeat are all the more lengthened for our viewing pleasure.

i liked the talent better in boston than in atlanta (apart from jermaine), but i like the personalities better in atlanta.

clockwise: antonio wheeler, bryan walker, jermaine sellers, tisha holland, noelle reece, holly harden, miriam lemnouni, keia johnson, mallorie halley

the family story

jermaine sellers has been taking care of his mother since he was 17. his mother suffers from a condition called spinal bifida which causes her great pain when it strikes. jermaine is a church singer. so here’s a church singer who takes care of his sick mother. it’s not one of your “oh, woe is me!” tearjerky stories, just a real life story of one who works and loves hard for a living. i want him badly to get through. in fact, i want him to win the whole darn show. he sang “what if god was one of us”, a song i’m actually annoyed with. but he sang it r&b style, much better than the original joan osborne version in my opinion. he can even shave a little of the “too nice” image and actually be cool like usher or something. i have faith that he can make it to the top 12. have faith!

the uncommon personalities, uncommon circumstances

keia johnson joined a pageant and won miss congeniality. simon makes fun of her by asking questions that allude to the age-old issue of beauty vs. personality. i think keia answered very good-naturedly and was so classy about it. she sang “my heart will go on,” a song that annoys me more than “what if god was one of us” and would have assured an elimination if i had my way with the world. however, like jermaine, she sang an extremely cloying song r&b style and made it actually very interesting. she gets through to hollywood, she and her congeniality.

vanessa wolfe jumps bridges. she is a hillbilly, trailer park, heavy drawl kind of person who jumps bridges. she’s from a small town in tennessee and if i am correct with my interpretation of the vonore town sign, it has a population of only 859. i may be wrong, it may be a thousand or so, whatever. she declares that she is wearing a dress worth a measly $4.50. that’s my kind of shopper there. she sang “wagon wheel” and she wasn’t bad at all. only i didn’t understand a word she sang. judges go “authentic”, “distinct” and other synonyms to the word real and different. simon tells her something not too nice (but not too mean either) so she retorts “if i didn’t have a dress on, i’d throw you.” she is in tears when she finds out that she, a little town girl, is going to hollywood. then she runs yelling outside the premises barefoot.

antonio wheeler a.k.a. skii bo ski is too cool for the auditions. he speaks in phrases like snoop dogg, but i don’t think he’s doing that on purpose; i think he’s stoned like snoop dogg. “skibo ski” is printed on his shirt and when he spells out his alias to the camera, someone points out that the shirt is not spelled right. and he says something like it’s the misprint that gave him a discount. i like this guy! we thought he was going to make a fool of himself in front of the judges, but when he sang “i heard it on the grapevine,” he was very good! he goes on to say something like “even with the dollar store, you can have everything you want in that one package, and it only costs you a dollar.” no one makes sense of it. randy says he doesn’t understand what skii bo ski is saying, something you should slap randy’s head for because we don’t understand half of what he’s saying either. he goes through and i wish he makes it to the live show.

lauren sanders and carmen turner are bff’s. you know they are tv-series-style bff’s, the kind who must have been attached by the hip at birth, when you see them do each other’s make up in the waiting room and talk simultaneously, finish one another’s sentences. it’s kind of creepy. we can see a mmmmmile away what’s going to happen. they come into the audition room as a duo and they are quite funny. they sing one after the other and you can see that one sings better than the other. simon says they could be the “ditz sisters” and someone in the panel snickers like something lewd was said. we know what they are thinking and they’re just being pests. anyway, simon says they should either go through together or be rejected together, observing that they are interesting as a pair but boring when separated. the idea of “ditz sisters” obviously doesn’t appeal to the other judges because they only let carmen through. there’s a big show of mourning and heartbreak when the bff’s go down to the waiting room where lauren’s family was waiting. i was hoping for something like “you b—-, you should have told them you’re not going without me!” but that would be asking too much.

the break-catchers

holly harden looks and sounds familiar to my husband. he quickly says that this is the same country girl in america’s got talent. she looks and sounds familiar to me… oh, she looks and sounds like kellie pickler. i bet she will be labeled as “the next kellie pickler” if she makes it to the live show: the cute little dumb blonde with a deep south accent. hey, i’m not knocking her, i actually like kellie! it wasn’t mentioned on idol, but holly said back in agt that she works as a clerk in radio shack. this time, she came into the audition as a guitar. many people were probably wishing that she makes a mess of her song because the guitar ensemble is not only annoying but infuriating. she sang “you ain’t woman enough to take my man” and sails through.

bryan walker‘s audition was missed my simon (he got up to take a breather). pity. for simon. bryan walker is very good. he is a police officer. everybody likes a man in uniform, right? especially one that can sing. he sang “superstar” and i always like men who can pull off women’s songs. the singing cop might have a place waiting for him in the live show. just my speculation.

the no special back-stories

miriam lemnouni, noelle reece and tisha holland were shown in quick succession. looks like idol producers trying to make us see that more women are getting through in atlanta.

mallorie halley sang “piece of my heart” country style. i usually would hate it if anyone tweaks janis joplin like that, but that wasn’t all too bad for me to hate. mary j. blige says it’s the best vocal she’s heard that day (what? really?). she gets a unanimous yes to hollywood. good, but i’m not so keen on her.

and then there is general larry platt

the pimp spot is reserved for the general. in a competition best known for the most talented and the most grotesque, here is a contestant who neither has the most superb vocals nor is the most deluded, but is now this season’s instant superstar. he is larry platt, 62 years old, but what the heck? the producers let him through even if he is way beyond the age limit. he sang a song he wrote called “pants on the ground,” and it is one hell of a catchy song. he wrote it for the young people these days who wear their jeans too low. he dances and does a split good enough to put younger people to shame. simon tells him that idol has a max age limit of 28, but he goes up to embrace platt and sings (or bobs to?) “pants on the ground” with him. randy did the same. and idol had the other people in the waiting room sing “pants on the ground” simultaneously. it was too trippy.

simon says, “i have a horrible feeling that is going to be a big hit.” and it already is! in a matter of hours from the time platt appeared on t.v., remixes and covers with instruments have appeared all over the viral universe. i hope it’s copyrighted so he gets paid…

get this: he is a civil rights legend!

platt is something of a u2 songwriting nirvana: he was beaten in the historic bloody sunday and marched with martin luther king, jr. and rev. hosea williams. it was rev. williams himself who nicknamed platt “general.” you can only imagine how relevant he is in society and in history. and look at this legend, singing on the idol auditions where lesser people might misconstrue him as just another crazy old man! i am sure he doesn’t care what we think.

for “his great energy and commitment to equality and the protection of the innocent and for his outstanding service to the atlanta community and the citizens of georgia,” september 4, 2001 was declared larry platt day in atlanta.

beat that, all other american idol hopefuls.

click here for an article about gen. larry platt.

question is why let him past the preliminaries when he is obviously overage? is this show turning out to be a sham? i don’t think so. at a time when a country is floundering under the weight of recession, only in a sense of humor can things make more… well, sense. apart from that, only by allowing platt before the judges can the world know about this extraordinary man and his contributions to society; i mean, none of his accomplishments were mentioned in the show, but it sure got me along with hundreds of thousands of viewers to look up his background.

here’s an amateur video taken in the waiting room and posted on youtube by another contestant. this one lucky dude just shot a comic treasure here and didn’t even realize it then! platt singing “pants on the ground” with bff’s carmen and lauren casting glances from behind. they were probably thinking, “what a nuisance,” but look who’s famous now!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76YGyJSwSRI&hl=en_US&fs=1&]

gen. larry platt’s place in the idol finale is sealed.

alrighty then! the stats are in. and idol continues to rake in large numbers with 29.8 million viewers for the premier episode.

we have so much to thank idol producers for. they cater to our fantasies with american dreams, sob stories, family bonds, unfulfilled employees looking for meaning, underrated talents trying to catch a break. and, as usual, they try to shove it down our throats encouraging our tears for the likeables and our loathing for the weird. i don’t mind this format. in fact, i downright watch and wait for it. i am a hypocrite in the mold of: i hate town gossip but i love media fodder. so idol can play up everybody’s story and squeeze as much juice from even the mundane ones. they know we love it.

and it all started with a wide shot of the 9000 hopefuls who turned up during audition day despite the two-inch rainfall. determination has to be emphasized.

to my disappointment, ellen degeneres didn’t even make an appearance. victoria beckham did. her only claim to music having been one-fifth of the spice girls and arguably the worst singer at that. the one who couldn’t hold up when they disbanded. until david beckham came along on his noble steed. there, i said it. and when one contestant was asked whether she knew who victoria was, she said “victoria…david beckham’s wife,” to which kara the clueless turned to victoria and made a sarcastic remark. excuse me, ms. dioguardi, she is better known as david beckham’s wife. right, right, she’s a global fashion icon, designer, businesswoman, whatever, but these all came as perks of being married to beckham, after she had “borrowed” the influence, moved to hollywood with his sports contract and became friends with that scientology couple. she would practically be nobody now if not for him. give that contestant a break, will you? victoria didn’t seem offended, why does kara have to push the wrong buttons? hey, don’t get me wrong, i am a huge spice girls fan (i have their albums and their concert videos. i mean it), but we have to admit that their success is due more to image than talent. at any rate, i really do admire victoria beckham for her sense of style.

now a style icon, we can hardly even remember that she used to sing in a girl group. how many birkins can one person have?

from purse blog and the celebrity blog.

true story: a few seasons ago, someone auditioned with a terrible rendition of a spice girls song. judges said it was bad. in jest, simon quipped that at least she sang it better than the spice girls. well now. i wonder if they even remember that incident with victoria on the same panel.

on to some of the hopefuls who made it through to hollywood.

clockwise: amadeo diricco, katie stevens, bosa mora, maddy curtis, mike davis, justin williams, joshua blaylock, leah laurenti, tyler grady

from rickey.

the family stories

maddy curtis is 16 and is one of the youngest in a big brood of kids. her brother has down’s syndrome and she has been his constant guide. her parents are such big-hearted people, they adopted more kids with ds so their child can have more companions. maddy sang “hallelujah” well, though at this point it might be hard to tell whether this is her style of music. kara the pointless says she has an “old soul” which makes us think what the…? the song is old, but her vocals sound young without the squeaky-squeaky. simon gives her a compliment when he said that they’ve had many teenagers sing, but maddy is “not annoying”. as she leaves, she tells them she “enjoyed singing for (them)” and you can tell right away that she’s a good kid.

amadeo diricco, from an extended italian-american family. we see them in the kitchen making their own sauces and their own wine. we see them around the dining table laughing boisterously, talking and eating at the same time. it’s like a scene from a cooking show or maybe a mafia movie. please, i don’t mean that in a racist way, we all love mafia movies. he sang muddy waters’ “hoochie coochie man”, a demanding song that requires prowess and attitude. well, he certainly had the power, can’t say much about the vocals, but he’s through anyway based on personality. waiting outside were his brothers(?)/cousins(?), all tall and muscular like him. there was testosterone overload when he charged out of the audition room. maybe the judges let him through so these guys won’t clobber them? anyway, he has automatically become my husband’s favorite.

the sob stories

katie stevens is obviously very close to her grandmother who was diagnosed with alzheimer’s disease a year ago. you can tell that young katie (she’s 16) is deeply affected by this. she says she is auditioning because her grandmother may not have much time left and she wants grandma to see her succeed first. she must be very strong to admit that, much less open up about it. she sang “at last” very skillfully (a little too belt-y for a jazz song, but she probably meant to do that). we find her having more vocal character than the earlier 16-year-old, kara should have reserved her canned comment of “old soul” for katie instead.

justin williams survived cancer. ooooh i can just see the producers rubbing their palms together for this one. he wasn’t bad singing “feeling good”, nothing a little halo effect can’t lift. seriously though, he does have talent for hollywood week, got a unanimous yes for that. producers are probably hoping he does well in the next round so they can stretch his story into the live show the way they did danny gokey’s last year.

the uncommon characters, uncommon circumstances

tyler grady is my breakaway favorite of the day. the moment his 70′s inspired scruffy hair and duds came into view, i was hoping so hard that he makes it through. it’s so perfect that his style seemed naturally his own and not an attempt to stand out whatsoever. as usual, some clueless remark was cast from the panel saying he looks 60′s, to which another retorted that it’s more like the 70′s. someone has to work on style chronology. i’m not an expert, i’m just saying… anyway, he is undoubtedly cute in a strange way, made even more enchanting by the braces on his wrists; he hurt himself falling from a tree. very unfortunate for one who plays drums in a band. he said he aspires to be a frontman. he sang “let’s get it on” with that raspy voice and randy was so spot-on when he commented how tyler has that morrison stance.

joshua blaylock, oh joshua. if this were nice idol, he would have been a shoo-in for the title. he sang “bless the broken road”. he has a decent boyband-type voice (and we mean a talented boyband) but the judges are quite concerned that he is neither confident nor assertive enough to want the title badly enough. so they gave him a lesson on assertiveness by having him tell off simon. he goes, “simon, shut up!….please,” which proves that he just can’t get rid of the niceness even if he were given the license to be mean. his politeness is a compulsion. i like that.

leah laurenti, for me, had the best vocals in the episode by far. she belongs to a very religious family of ardent churchgoers. she was never allowed to listen to secular music. with her feeling guilty, does it go without saying that her family might not be too pleased with her being in the auditions? and in a skimpy outfit too. her “blue skies” rendition is fantastic, her family doesn’t know what they would be depriving america of if they don’t want her involved in the mainstream. i suddenly think the story may be a little embellished because when she called her dad to tell him she’s going to hollywood, she asked, “are you proud of me?” and he replied, “of course i am.” but then, i kind of feel sad that she had to ask that at all. could someone point out to her family that katy perry also had a very strict upbringing?

the break-catchers

mike davis must make one heck of a friend. he has a sense of humor, he is charming and cute without trying. he excitedly tells the judges that he drives a boat named “codzilla” (ooh, watch my husband’s and my father-in-law’s eyes pop at the boat) for a living, indulged them with a view of it skimming across the water behind them. the girls are falling for him the way they did for tyler. he even “scored” a date with kara and “bragged” about it to seacrest.

bosa mora‘s parents are from nigeria. they migrated to the states in pursuit of the american dream, circumstances very familiar to us pinoys. right before he came on, my husband was saying he wants to see an african-american sing r&b. well, he got it, and this one very close to africa, when bosa sang “you look so good in love”. simon’s “boring” card doesn’t faze the other judges. he is my husband’s other favorite by default.

the no special back-stories

jennifer hirsh, jess wolfe and claire fuller were mashed in 90 seconds of airtime. jennifer, i hope, can bring beatnik far into the program. she sang and scatted “ding dong, the witch is dead” making it very jazzy and ultimately memorable. jess wolfe has an unusual voice that would make her individual and may even stand out if she plays her cards right. claire fuller, claire fuller… hmmm…..

ashley rodriguez, according to simon has that “it” factor. she’s charming, she’s good looking and she’s confident without being overbearing. on top of that, she sang “if i ain’t got you” with great skill and control, kara was even lip synching as she auditioned.

luke shaffer and benjamin bright were jamming in the waiting room with their guitars along with a third one who either didn’t get through or sang a song idol hasn’t procured the rights to yet. luke sang “fall for you”, benjamin sang “all my loving”.

so what do we think of boston?

the season just started and i have found a few i would be watching closely. boston this year produced some great talent, even the “bad” ones weren’t that bad. while some tears were shed, there weren’t any full-blown hysteria or furious profanity.

well, they did get some attitude from andrew fenlon, who didn’t get through even if we honestly thought he had the voice to make it to the next round. if you don’t believe me, ask simon. he says yes to the guy. victoria saying he doesn’t “have the goods” to back up his arrogance doesn’t count because a) she doesn’t have it either but she sang in a girl group anyway, and b) she seems affected too by what transpired. i blame it on kara. i know andrew was all sarcastic and rude, but we didn’t find him obnoxious, he was generally just ignored by the other judges, until kara instigated the argument. she did exactly the same thing with bikini girl last year (thank you, idol producers, for refreshing everyone’s memory). remember how kara couldn’t let the incident past bikini girl and had to incessantly make mean comments through hollywood round? looks like she won’t get this one past andrew this year (thank you again, idol producers, for showing us that clip of kara and victoria outside the audition room where kara kept going on about andrew). why does she have to dip all ten of her thumbs into stuff? and if she is so successful, why is she so insecure? i hope the producers get andrew back for the finale and she would be forced into a showdown again for charity. get over it, kara!

and thank god the beatles have succumbed and allowed idol to air their songs. the curtain was lifted two years ago, thus they had a beatles week for the first time then. this year, hopefuls get to sing beatles (like this episode’s “yesterday” and “all my loving”) without being left on the cutting floor.

next, atlanta!

ok, ok, there is avatar, 12 years after james cameron brought us titanic in 1997, another year when it was personal to me. not because there was one particular film then that i wanted to win, but because i wanted titanic in particular to lose. there, i said it. the only oscar winner in history whose screenplay wasn’t even nominated. meaning, the story sucked. there, i said it. it won solely on its technical merits.

this is just my humble opinion. here’s my problem with movies whose only advantages are technical in nature: they don’t age gracefully. i watched titanic again a few weeks ago and i didn’t find the sinking scenes as impressive as i once did. that’s because filmmaking evolves, they advance rapidly. in a few years, many of the groundbreaking techniques now will be rendered obsolete and replaced by other groundbreaking techniques. so if you watch a technically charged movie with a flat story, say, ten years from now, all you get is a boring film with tired old effects. as opposed to movies whose clear advantages are their screenplay and the actors’ performances: they become classic. you can watch casablanca then, now and in the future, it would strike you the same way it did audiences over fifty years ago. not to say movies with a lot of sfx have no potential to become classic. look at star wars. puppetronics have since been replaced by cgi and the original jabba looks somewhat amateurish by today’s standards, but its story and character development make it timeless. i’d say the same for the lord of the rings. or maybe i’m just a geek.

this time, there is a lot of talk about avatar pulling another titanic on us. a very visually engaging show with lackluster story running for best picture but nowhere in sight for best screenplay nor its actors for best performance. admittedly, the movie was stunningly beautiful… on the surface. i did like it and even recommend it to my friends (as opposed to: i discouraged my friends from watching titanic. and they hate me for it). i am quick to emphasize that the sfx will blow their socks off, but the story is meh. it’s like ferngully in another habitable planet (or was that a moon?). or reverse dances with wolves as many critics put it. i do consider it one of the best films of 2009, simply because the whole spectacle was riveting. but i couldn’t stand the idea that it might win over

inglourious basterds.

it will break me in half. sfx, no matter how magnificent, should never precede a good story. titanic has done it before to l.a. confidential. please don’t let mr. cameron do it again. i have tremendous respect for him and his craft, he is indeed a visionary director, but we just can’t let sappy stories with full-on effects get in the way of our good judgment. i like james cameron for terminator and arnold schwarzenegger, but that feels like a very distant past now.

although, for the life of me, i don’t know how a “historical fantasy” can take the plum, especially one that strikes extra-sensitive chords. especially one that takes liberties with its free rein on historical facts surcharged with moral and ethical considerations, it’s almost sacrilege. it doesn’t help that it was written and directed by quentin tarantino, of course. i think it’s about time he gets the award. he ought to win one eventually, right? what better chance to do it than for this film.

here’s another extra-juicy bite to the unfurling awards red carpet: best picture forerunner the hurt locker, touted as the most powerful movie about the war in iraq, is directed by kathryn bigelow, only the third female ever to be nominated for best director. experts surmise she might just become the first female to win a major award for that category (she has bagged the earlier awards to support that claim). she happens to be james cameron’s ex-wife. ooooohh… wouldn’t it be too succulent to have an ex-wife pull the rug from under the ex-husband’s feet? i am also rooting for you, ms. bigelow! because i love uncanny plot twists!

the second-largest awards ceremony, the golden globes, announced their picks last december 15. as we all know, this is a reliable preamble to the oscars, although there have been occasions when one and the other disagreed on best picture (like sense and sensibility won the gg, then braveheart won the oscar in 1995, yet another year when the awards was personal to me).

here are the nominees for golden globe 2010:

best picture – drama:
avatar
the hurt locker
inglourious basterds
precious
up in the air

best picture – comedy or musical:
(500) days of summer
the hangover
it’s complicated
julie and julia
nine

best director:
james cameron – avatar
kathryn bigelow – the hurt locker
quentin tarantino – inglourious basterds
clint eastwood – invictus
jason reitman – up in the air

best screenplay:
it’s complicated
the hurt locker
inglourious basterds
up in the air
district 9

best actor – drama:
jeff bridges – crazy heart
george clooney – up in the air
colin firth – a single man
morgan freeman – invictus
tobey maguire – brothers

best actress – drama:
emily blunt – the young victoria
sandra bullock – the blind side
helen mirren – the last station
carey mulligan – an education
gabourey sidibe – precious

best actor – comedy or musical:
matt damon – the informant!
daniel day-lewis – nine
robert downey, jr. – sherlock holmes
joseph gordon-levitt – (500) days of summer
michael stuhlbarg – a serious man

best actress – comedy or musical:
sandra bullock – the proposal
marion cotillard – nine
julia roberts – duplicity
meryl streep – it’s complicated
meryl streep – julie and julia

best supporting actor:
matt damon – invictus
woody harrelson – the messenger
christopher plummer – the last station
stanley tucci – the lovely bones
christoph waltz – inglourious basterds

best supporting actress:
penelope cruz – nine
vera farmiga – up in the air
anna kendrick – up in the air
mo’nique – precious
julianne moore – a single man

some (insignificant) comments:

a deep and resounding yesssss for christoph waltz! he has won all supporting actor trophies so far, he should get the major ones too. he is nominated for both the screen actors guild and the golden globe, he’d likely be nominated for the oscar. he is downright fantastic, he is terrifying and hilarious in parts as an ss. who would have thought someone could pull off a role like that? thank you, mr. tarantino for picking up a little-known talent from austria and giving him a big break!

i’m somewhat tired of seeing merryl streep every year among the nominees. she’s a fantastic actress, no doubt, but it seems as if they just put her in because they can’t find anyone else to fill the slot. and i don’t want her to tie katharine hepburn’s long standing record for most oscar acting awards… that’s just me.

check out, mo’nique in the highly acclaimed precious! that darn funny girl can give a darn good drama performance too!

seriously, sandra bullock? was the year really that slack for actresses in comedy? i love sandra bullock, i think she’s funny and relevant in the film industry, but her performance in the proposal isn’t so good it could warrant a nomination.

come to think of it… looks like a weak year for comedy altogether. nine gets a nod despite all the bad press and the mainstream frivolity the hangover is there with it. don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing bad about the hangover, i just thought this category was for films along the caliber of four weddings and a funeral and moulin rouge.

hey look, tobey maguire’s up for best actor. i won’t say anything for nor against it, but didn’t jeremy renner for the hurt locker give a more critically acclaimed and more talked-about performance? shouldn’t his name be up there instead?

here’s hoping too that inglourious basterds win for best ensemble cast in sag!

yes, like many of you michael jackson blokes, i turned up on the weekend of this is it and turned on the waterworks when the opening strains of man in the mirror came into play. and i sobbed through the entire song up until the end credits.

it really hurts to know what could have been.

i probably am not the best person to write a film review, what with my deeply rooted biases, so i wouldn’t even attempt to. for those of you who have loved michael jackson even a little bit growing up, and those who kept abreast of his life and times and stuck by him through his legal battles and personal ordeals, you should watch this movie. in fact, you might want to watch it twice in the cinema.

if there is any moral lesson we can gather from this production, it is speaking to people kindly even if you mean to criticize them. i asked my husband, the music and concert tour geek, if indeed michael jackson was that nice to production staff… or are they just playing up his niceness to leave a remarkable impression of saintly behavior to his fans? whatever the reality, only michael can correct a guitarist and say, “do it for love” at the end of his comment; or call out to the sound guys about ramming his inner ears then say, “i’m saying that with love, L-O-V-E.” indeed, only michael can get away with saying that.

another thing we can learn is synergy. from the dancers, the singers, the musicians, the technical staff, heck from the mind-blowing pyrotech guys, everything and everyone somehow melded into one workable unit. of course, if there had been any heated arguments or pouty walking out, the disruptions wouldn’t have made it into final production. but that wouldn’t have affected my opinion that the entire group was so synergistic and extremely supportive of each other, all teams the world over should sit up and take notes.

one of my biggest frustrations about this concert not coming into fruition, which i think i will carry until my last breath, is the fact that we won’t see michael in the fantastic costumes designed for him and the other performers, along with some classics recreated with greater intensity especially for this tour. the bedazzled gloves and socks, the iconic “thriller” red jacket embedded with fiber-optic lights that flash in time to the beat, the regimental regalia for “i just can’t stop loving you”, and what seems to be a cosmos-inspired white suit for “billie jean” heavy laden with thousands of swarovski crystals and led lights.

perhaps the most significant feeling i developed while watching this film is a tremendous respect for director kenny ortega (btw, if you don’t know who kenny ortega is, give yourself a swift kick in the butt. he worked with gene kelly in xanadu, directed and/or choreographed such classic music videos as “material girl” and movies like dirty dancing. if these titles still don’t make sense to you, here: he choreographed and directed the high school musical franchise).

while a reliable review mentioned that ortega can seem fawning and quite obsequious towards michael, i hope you also note the fact that this is michael we are talking about. even if you were not particularly supportive of his achievements and his lifestyle, you would still end up admiring the skills and story behind the man. besides, we should also remember that ortega directed both the dangerous and the history world tours, therefore he definitely knows better than any of us how to deal with michael jackson.

on a rather unrelated note: this year, kenny ortega lost two of the most talented stars he has worked extensively with: michael jackson (he directed the dangerous and history world tours) and patrick swayze (he choreographed dirty dancing and to wong foo, thanks for everything, julie newmar).

as this is it continues to shatter box office records worldwide, i can’t help but think this is not over yet.

it’s around this time of the year when i start getting more or less ambivalent about tv shows: it’s way after the mid-year stream of season debuts, just some weeks short of the holiday specials, and, naturally, the horror/thriller tv-movie genre plainly keeps me away from the small screen for hours longer than i care to allow. more importantly, it’s been some time after the finale of american idol; the revelry have quite died down, and it would still be some months until our nerves are strung on tenterhooks yet again for that shameless laugh-trip we so call the auditions.

one thing i am happy about this year is that my favorite idol contestant released a single sooner after the season than any other idol hopeful – or even winner, for that matter – in all of american idol’s short but meaningful history (of course, not counting the official a.i. song as typically released almost immediately by the winner). and to make the fortunate turn-of-events even sweeter, it’s the carrier single for a major motion picture soundtrack surcharged with all the tumultuous special effects befitting any apocalyptic film.

i am, as the title gives away, referring to adam lambert and the movie 2012 (directed by ronald emmerich, the same man who brought us independence day and the day after tomorrow; i suppose we can reasonably surmise what his favorite theme is).

true to the drama and spectacle he was known all season for, adam delivers a power ballad to further the legacy of that other end-of-the-world theme song, independence day‘s i don’t want to miss a thing. and this one will certainly do steve tyler justice.

time for miracles is, very ironically given its grand scale, a huge relief, considering the music industry has been churning out predictable tunes for the past few years. not to say that we were bereft of any potential classics. i do love my simple yet profound songs, my nonsensical dance and electronica. it’s just that we have forgotten how big, bold music with incredibly strong vocals strike our emotions as only songs with arrangements so full and so substantial can; that feeling we get from aerosmith, the kind that drag us to the ground with the mass of its power, then pull us up to a soaring crescendo as the same strength lifts our emotions to its revolutionary last notes… or eventually lay those feelings gently down from a dizzying height to a resting denouement.

love it or hate it, welcome back to the big screen the mass hysteria, the destruction and the hurtling debris from outer space. welcome back the power ballad with time for miracles:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euVVekys7SA&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0x5d1719&color2=0xcd311b]

ladies and gentlemen, in just a few moments, this song will make its way to ktv bars and magic sing. please wait.

the proposal contains all the fundamental elements that make up a consummate romcom: our protagonists could not stand the very sight of each other, but an unanticipated conflict coerces them to work closely together in resolution (in the case of this film, very very closely together). throw in some old school family charm and, in no time, their charade uncovers unexpected idiosyncrasies that predictably endear them to each other. they fall in love, the end.

i like my occasional romcoms. though i am the first to lift the achtung sign when the cheesy parts are about to commence, i relish the lighthearted and lightheaded emotions that steam away deep-seated anxieties. that’s the power of kilig, no matter how unrealistic.

sandra bullock once played the slave-driven subordinate to hugh grant’s role as insensitive billionaire boss in two weeks notice, but in what must be this year’s biggest romantic comedy, she takes a jab at being the boss from hell. with an efficient but underappreciated executive assistant, andrew paxton played by ryan reynolds, bullock’s margaret tate will make you laugh as a big city girl trying to survive a family reunion in alaska.

as usual, the fashion makes the movie more memorable for me. here are the ensembles that make me love margaret tate even if she is, as gammy annie tells, “satan’s mistress”:

this now iconic proposal scene will surely go down romantic comedy history. replete with the prada handbag and christian louboutin pumps.

boating their way to the family estate. traveling in style with hermes birkin and face a face sunglasses.

insert awkward here. meeting the family in a gray mock wraparound dress (i'm crazy about the details on this one).

plaid boyfriend flannel robe over sexy negligee. rescued shelter puppy optional.

crisp classic white shirt over black pants and christian louboutins. not exactly bachelorette surprise attire, but very nice nevertheless.

as margaret feels more at home in alaska, so does her outfit. two layers of sweaters, a striped scarf and cropped pants.

antique wedding dress from gammy, pre-alterations.

much less uptight the second time around. a casual chic top with gathering detail and a slim belt.

sandra bullock with director anne fletcher. puff-sleeved top with wide stripes. my favorite.

though i am and will always be a huge fan of michael jackson’s work, scandal or no scandal, it has never occurred to me to ride onto the bandwagon of mourning fans and pseudo-fans. i am sure that he is an even bigger star now that he has passed, that he will be remembered for the music more than the controversies that hounded him to his untimely demise.

i like and respect elvis, but i have to say that jackson must now be an even bigger legend.

and now in eternal repose, the controversies persist.

do you think michael jackson faked his own death?

according to derek clontz of your world report:

Billions of people around the world think pop genius Michael Jackson is dead and set to be buried but nothing could be further from the truth.

In fact, say sources in a position to know, the superstar faked his death to escape the crushing pressures of life in a fishbowl – and he is now socked away in an undisclosed location in Eastern Europe, possibly Hungary, far from the clamor of paparazzi covering his “autopsy” and “funeral” in southern California.

And in the strangest twist of all, say the insiders, once he’s rested and ready, Jackson, 50, will blow the lid off his own hoax – and embark on the most spectacularly lucrative concert tour in the history of rock ‘n’ roll.

celebrity fake deaths are not unusual in the wild world of superstardom. so i’m writing this entry, my first and hopefully only tabloid-themed entry in this blog, because i am quite fascinated by how the collective consciousness of fans in denial can spur such outlandish imaginations.

here’s a tribute to the celebs who were rumored to have faked their own deaths:

glenn miller

john f. kennedy

jim morrison

diana, princess of wales

elvis presley

andy warhol

2pac

michael jackson

rest in peace.