it's not life that matters but the journey...

I really need to stop ordering bad movies from Netflix. Last night I watched (or should I say I tried to watch) the remake of Journey to the Center of the Earth . so you're asking, why on earth did I rent that silly mess? Good question... I can't even remember why I put it on my queue.
I guess the trailer made it look Jurassic park-like and fun... I didn't even get to the fun part, if there was any. I turned it off after about 40 minutes, after it started resembling the second Indiana Jones movie (and not a good resemblance). Brendan Fraser really needs to start making good movies again - he's starting to get typecast as the nerdy professor-action hero type after all the Mummy movies. In this movie he was so uninspired, and the actress playing the Icelandic guide was horribly annoying. and the special effects were just a joke. I felt like I was watching a movie made by a teenager!

I think it's really time to put my Netflix membership on hold. I just can't find anything worth renting anymore...

and speaking of movies, I'm not sure if I'll even watch the Academy Awards this year. (I think I might have said the same thing last year, and ended up watching only half of the awards then)... Honestly I don't care anymore, and that makes me so sad. I might watch simply to see Hugh Jackman as the host(*melt*), and to see the beautiful dresses and the gorgeous men. This is the second year that I haven't seen ANY of the movies up for best picture - and I only care about a few of them. I guess everyone's saying that Benjamin Button is good, but I am not interested. I'm not interested in The Reader. I might see Slumdog Millionaire once it's on DVD. And Frost/Nixon too. of course I really want to see Milk, but it won't win. It's so easy to predict the winners every year - it's all political after all. Ever since Brokeback Mountain lost to Crash a few years back, I just gave up on caring. It's so disappointing.

Yes, it's snowing again here. And I'm not happy about it. the forecast said "freezing rain", which it actually was doing last night. But right now, as I'm typing this, quite a lot of snow is coming down, fluffy, white and foreboding. I don't want another snow day - I need to work, and I hope this stuff stops before 8 a.m tomorrow.

So, tonight's the Oscars, and this is probably the first year that I've seen less than half of the movies that are nominated. Yesterday I did drive to a theatre about 30 minutes away, by myself, to see Babel with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. It's one of the films nominated for best picture, and it was phenomenal! It's a story about the universality of a single event, the way that tragedy, loss and also hope can be global. I was very impressed by all of the acting, and with the power and intensity of the four interconnected stories (it takes place simultaneously in Morocco, Mexico and Japan). The Japanese actress, Rinko Kikuchi, was probably the most impressive since she was playing a deaf mute and was able to give a more powerful performance without words than many of the talking roles I've seen. Oh, and Gael Garcia Bernal is also in this movie, as well as the Japanese actor from Shall We Dance , Koji Yakusho. I realized after I talked to my sister that the director is the same who made 21 Grams with Sean Penn and Naomi Watts, which was also extremely powerful. I highly recommend watching Babel , but just be warned that it is extremely emotional, and you'll need to be alone for awhile after watching it. I needed a corner to just go and cry.

I didn't mind going by myself to the movie - I've done that about four other times in my life. The only thing I minded was that the theater was packed, mostly full of old couples, and it was probably the longest, most excrutiating 15 minutes waiting for that movie to start. I had to listen to the ridiculous drone of the old people around me, and I heard the funniest thing. This very loud woman was talking to her friend about the movies and directors that are nominated for the Academy awards. She started talking about how Martin Scorsese was nominated for "The Departed" and that he hadn't ever won an award before (she said that about 10 times) - and in trying to tell her friend who Scorsese is, she said this: "you know, he's the guy that makes all THOSE movies. He made all of 'the Godfather' movies." !!!!!!

Scorsese made all the Godfather movies? Really? I think he better have a talk with Francis Ford Coppola then, don't you think?

It took all the power in the world for me to NOT turn around and say something. And after she made this amazing revelation, some man actually agreed with her, and said "OH, yea, you're right."

Ah, ignorance sure must be bliss. and that must be why I'm so unhappy!

and back to the Academy Awards, even though I know it's not really a contest of who's the BEST in film, I do have my hopes set on certain victories: Babel for best picture; Ryan Gosling (or Forest Whitaker) for best actor; Kate Winslet for best actress; Rinko Kikuchi for best supporting actress; and Eddie Murphy or Djimon Hounsou for best supporting actor. That isn't what or who will win, but it's my hopes!