Oscar(R) Snores

The Oscar(R) nominations were announced on Tuesday morning and for the first time that I can remember, we did not set the TV to go off to watch at 5:30. Perhaps it is the WGA strike which made them slip under my radar or maybe the fact that I could go to a website and download the information at a civilized hour (as Len did) or maybe because it was the first time since New Year's Day that I didn't have to get up early enough to drive Michael to his job before I was due at work. In any case, Len and I didn't talk about the nominations until last night and he said he's not that excited about the nominees.

This may be due to the fact that we've seen so few of them. With a day job and responsibility for Ace, I just don't have the time to go see movies like I used to. We managed to catch a few during the screening season and we've gotten something like 15 screeners to watch at home, so there is hope. But I just can't get excited about some of the films. I hear Atonement is as endless as The English Patient, three hours of my life I will never get back. We missed the opportunity to see No Country for Old Men with the Coen Brothers, but we do have the screener; unfortunately, I hear it is quite violent. That makes it easier to watch on a small screen than a big screen, as far as I'm concerned.

We did love Juno, starring Kitty Pride and C.J. Craig. Aragorn was great in Eastern Promises, but the odds of him actually winning the statue are pretty small since Daniel Day Lewis seems to be favored. I'll be rooting for Viggo anyway, who should also have been nominated for A History of Violence.

Enchanted, which had Cyclops in a major role, has half of the nominations for original song. We managed to catch the film on Monday (because I had the day off and it was raining) and we absolutely loved it, even if I didn't know I was supposed to be looking for my sister in the crowd scenes. My friend Melinda called Enchanted "Galaxy Quest for Disney geeks" and I think that sums it up nicely. Len and I laughed until we cried. I will say the rats and roaches in the kitchen were really creepy to me, much like the scene where the rats escape the house in Ratatouille (also up for multiple Oscars(R).) One rat in the kitchen, o.k. Hundreds? No thanks!

Eventually, I expect I will see the entire nomination list and make my picks. We usually have a party to watch the Oscars(R), but, unless the strike ends, what kind of a party will that be? Maybe we'll get to do a black-tie picket line instead. I think we should gather to watch the SAG Awards, which may be the only show with actors we can count on this year.

Two Kinds of Jeopardy!

Last night, we went to the Arc-light for a WGA screening of Eastern Promises, the fantastic thriller starring Viggo Mortensen. Writer Steven Knight was present for a Q&A, which was quite enlightening. Several members of the audience expressed a desire for a sequel but I would say please don't. There's really only two possible ways a sequel could end, and neither one of them would be happy. The story, acting, and directing was absolutely perfect and I don't need too much information; ambiguous is better. Despite the three incidents of graphic violence (which I could see coming and ducked for Len's arm-pit), one which included glimpses of Viggo's naughty bits (which I missed because of burying my head in Len's arm-pit), I whole-heartedly recommend this film.

When we got home, we turned to the Tivo-light recordings of Monday's Jeopardy! Len fast-forwarded through the contestant introductions and left the room. I looked up and thought, gee, that first contestant looks like someone at Gillian's party on Sunday. And, oh, she's got the same first name.

Then Len came back into the room and the woman answered a question and he said "gee, that looks like Lisa Klink." I said "that's what I thought." He said "wait just a minute" and backed up the recording to the beginning. Indeed, it was television writer Lisa Klink, who won on both Monday and Tuesday, despite missing the Final Jeopardy! question on Monday and at least one Double Jeopardy! question to which both I spent yelling at the TV the correct answers. Why is it that people never hear the answers when you shout them at the TV?

She shouldn't feel too bad. Len didn't know the answer to Final Jeopardy! was Katherine of Aragon either, which I recognized instantly. I always feel smug when none of the contestants gets Final Jeopardy! and I do.

I am still so annoyed that I didn't get on Jeopardy! after I made the call list two years ago because I had a friend working on Spider-man 3. I was happy that Becky had a job editing visual effects, but her tenuous connection to Sony disqualified me. Unfortunately, her job didn't end until my qualifying period was pretty much up. I'll have to test again when the opportunity arises.a

So I hope that Lisa continues her winning streak, which was probably shot months ago. Jeopardy! is one of the game shows which actually has WGA writers on it, so they probably aren't shooting right now.