"I've been up all night, I might sleep all day."

It's 7:16 am...I've been up all night. Contemplating. Mulling over the course of last nights events, and how I am thoroughly displeased with some comments that were made in the course of a seemingly miniscule dialogue. 

You ever have one of those days where someone says something that seems completely harmless and it just ruins the rest of what you felt was going to be a pretty solid week of happiness? Like, if someone were to just say something along the lines of, "You wore that shirt today?", it isn't necessarily a negative comment, but you can take it to be bad, and thus it ruins your whole perspective for the upcoming days? Such an incident took place for myself due to a comment pertaining to my creativity, causing me to be up all night not thinking of anything else but how awful I really feel.

It was one of my friends, who was simply stating his opinion about an idea of mine. What he didn't realize was that it completely ruined the entire concept behind it for me. I had been looking forward to this particular creative decision of mine, and his judgement of the idea just caused it to sound completely and utterly ludicrous when ringing back into my ears. I began to question myself and if I was being stupid or not. I began to think the idea might be awful after all. No, it couldn't have been that bad, could it? No...Maybe. At that exact moment, I could not help but want to get up and walk away from the table because my friend was completely stomping on my creative prowess. It was ruining my holiday.

After the incident, I couldn't stop thinking about the comparison of knowledge between my friend and I, pertaining to the subject matter of my project. I kept having to reassure myself that I had the same, if not more, intelligence behind the subject than he did and therefore it was just him being him, and others wouldn't see it the same way. Yeah, that had to be it. His hard knock attitude towards everyone else was the problem. But then, something else hit me. This other instance where a similar occurrence took place. One of my OTHER friends also took to a different idea of mine very moderately, and didn't express much interest in it despite being an "expert" in the subject matter. This again caused my confidence level to strain as I was going to him for reassurance that my thoughts were good natured. Instead, I walked away from that one wanting to scrap the piece altogether. I'm glad I didn't. 

Between both of these instances, I began to see something more clearly, and my ongoing suspicions seemed to be closer to true than ever. I am under the impression, that none of my friends respect me creatively. Or they consider themselves as more of an expert in specific areas than they are compared to myself, which I would concede may be true in some cases but also false in others. I may not have any such knowledge in the areas of math, or history, or science, but I can more than hold my own when it pertains to pop culture, english and art (amongst other things). So to consistently feel as though I am being downsized by my own friends, only leads me to the assumption that they are really not taking into consideration that I may know what I am talking about, or I am just so unbelievably bad at everything that I am turning out. 

The more times I seem to share any new develops that I am working on, I easily get more discouraged when I talk to my closest friends. And most of the time it's not constructive criticism either. I can take that stuff. It's just blatant avoiding the context or shutting the message down altogether. It's something that I don't believe that I return any such messages back. Even if I think the idea is ridiculous, I don't think it is commonly decent to act as though I'm against it, or that they should change it around. Rather, that's not how I deal with artistic advice anyway. So if I was thinking it was just "revenge" for getting back at something I've said about their projects, then perhaps its justified, but I can't recall a specific instance where I have shared so many negative points regarding someone else's creative work. 

Basically, my point is that I am under the impression that nothing I do will ever be finished if I am continually sharing it with my friends. Whether they mean to or not, I think that I take everything that is said to me to behemoth levels of over analysis and always have their comments hit a little too close to the heart. I'm not sure if that's a good thing because they're my friends and I'm supposed to, or if it's a bad thing and I should lighten up. I just don't even know any more...maybe I'm slowly going nuts. Either way, these things keep happening over and over again and it causes me massive grief and unneeded stress. I think I'm just going to attempt keeping my ideas to myself for the next little while. Otherwise, I may not sleep ever again. 

4 for 4

For some reason the other day, this little irrelevant tid bit of information decided to dawn upon me, that there has not been a movie made since 1981 that has secured nominations in all four major acting categories. That's 27 years. Before then, there was, on average, at least two films a decade to achieve that honor. Here's the whole list:

My Man Godfrey (1936)
Best Actor: William Powell
Best Actress: Carole Lombard
Best Supporting Actor: Mischa Auer
Best Supporting Actress: Alice Brady

Mrs. Miniver (1942)
Best Actor: Walter Pidgeon
Best Actress: Greer Garson (won)
Best Supporting Actor: Henry Travers
Best Supporting Actress: Teresa Wright (won)

For Whom the Bell Tolls (1943)
Best Actor: Gary Cooper
Best Actress: Ingrid Bergman
Best Supporting Actor: Akim Tamiroff
Best Supporting Actress: Katina Paxinou (won)

Sunset Blvd. (1950)
Best Actor: William Holden
Best Actress: Gloria Swanson
Best Supporting Actor: Erich von Stroheim
Best Supporting Actress: Nancy Olson

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Best Actor: Marlon Brando
Best Actress: Vivien Leigh (won)
Best Supporting Actor: Karl Malden (won)
Best Supporting Actress: Kim Hunter (won)

From Here To Eternity (1955)
Best Actor: Burt Lancaster
Best Actor: Montgomery Clift
Best Actress: Deborah Kerr
Best Supporting Actor: Frank Sinatra (won)
Best Supporting Actress: Donna Reed (won)

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
Best Actor: Richard Burton
Best Actress: Elizabeth Taylor (won)
Best Supporting Actor: George Stevens
Best Supporting Actress: Sandy Dennis (won)

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Best Actor: Warren Beatty
Best Actress: Faye Dunaway
Best Supporting Actor: Gene Hackman
Best Supporting Actor: Michael J. Pollard
Best Supporting Actress: Estelle Parsons (won)

Guess Who's Coming To Dinner (1967)
Best Actor: Spencer Tracy
Best Actress: Katherine Hepburn (won)
Best Supporting Actor: Cecil Kellaway
Best Supporting Actress: Beah Richards

Network (1976)
Best Actor: Peter Finch (won)
Best Actor: William Holden
Best Actress: Faye Dunaway (won)
Best Supporting Actor: Ned Beatty
Best Supporting Actress: Beatrice Straight (won)

Coming Home (1978)
Best Actor: Jon Voight (won)
Best Actress: Jane Fonda (won)
Best Supporting Actor: Bruce Dern
Best Supporting Actress: Penelope Milford

Reds (1981)
Best Actor: Warren Beatty
Best Actress: Diane Keaton
Best Supporting Actor: Jack Nicholson
Best Supporting Actress: Maureen Stapleton (won)

So yeah. But Reds (1981) was the last.

We will be coming up, in the new year, on to the 81st Academy Awards and have not seen a 4/4 nominated film since the early 80's. I don't know what that is supposed to elude to, but perhaps it is once again time to see a well rounded cast for a change.

From the previous years, the film that I believe would have come closest to achieving this feat would have been Chicago in 2002 had Richard Gere received the much deserving Best Actor nomination. Because, even if they had gotten that right, as well as putting Catherine Zeta-Jones in the Best Actress category WITH Renée Zellweger, they still would have had Queen Latifah and John C. Reilly filling the supporting ballots. I don't believe any other movie since then has had a chance to fill a spot in all 4 acting categories. Little Miss Sunshine (2006) I guess could have done it, had the actors in the film not cancelled out each other's performances and forced them all for Best Supporting Actor contention...leaving Toni Collette to also be considered a supporting performance. I'm sure that's the way it would have had to have gone down.

There have of course been numerous well-acted films since 1981, but alas, none of them have really expanded themselves into the well rounded films that the 12 previous that accomplished the honor did. Some of the competitors lacked just one of the categories when being nominated. Last year's Michael Clayton had all but the Best Actress. The same was the case for Brokeback Mountain in 2005. Million Dollar Baby (2004) and As Good As It Gets (1997) were a Best Supporting Actress away from doing it. Then of course there are all the fantastic ensemble movies that fail to generate a single leading role, forcing the actors to all vie for a Supporting nod. It's just not the same as it used to. I really just think that we are due for a phenomenal movie where the cast is made up of a competitor for all of these trophies.

This year doesn't look like it will fair any better. The closest that we'll come will most likely be The Curious Case Benjamin Button, which is generating massive buzz for all the categories but Best Supporting Actor. Rachel Getting Married might be recognized for four acting nods, but lacks a leading man to fill that title and may be awarded with two Best Supporting Actress contenders instead. There are others that might be able to get two in the same category, but none that I can think of that will fill all of them.

The whole concept of having a complete cast used to be something that was expected in movies. It used to be a necessity to the plot to have a lead male and female being surrounded by equally impressive character actors in significant supporting performances. I realize that it wasn't seen in every movie, but obviously, we have strayed so far from that course of filmmaking, that we have forgotten how great a well rounded cast can be.

So I just want to bring it to the attention to anyone who would care to know that I want - no, NEED, a rounded out cast. I've been quite content with the amount of ensembles that we've been getting over the years, and I'm not even complaining about a lot of the star vehicles where one or two actors give the tour de force performance. Really, all I'm asking is to give us the best in all the areas you can. I mean REALLY give it to us. We've waited long enough, and if you don't write one soon, I might have to.




P.S. I just want to bring to the attention of everyone that my writing in the previous "Things That I Love Today" entry was quite awful. Truly sub-par. Plainly atrocious.

Things That I Love Today: John Milner in American Graffiti

American Graffiti is the ultimate teen movie. It was the one that paved the road for all of the great 80's contributions to the genre, and we owe everything that we love about the teen film culture to George Lucas' 1973 film. Think about this for a second. Has there even been an Oscar nominated teen film since Graffiti scored FIVE 35 years ago?? None come to mind (and I'm too lazy to look it up at this exact moment). It is unprecedented as far as being not just a great teen movie, but a great MOVIE in general. 

Now, upon watching it again, I have recalled my great liking for Paul Le Mat, playing the rebel with a heart of gold, John Milner. He's just such a great character. The guy who was king of the town with no future to look forward to. He is just the right balance of street smart and book dense that he enacts emphathy from any one who watches the film. The fact that Paul Le Mat plays him just adds to his appeal. We know where Richard Dreyfuss ends up in the movie world, and so we don't necessarily relate with him. We know where Ron Howards ends up in the movie world, and because he went bald, we don't necessarily relate with him (and really, when you think about, he's kind of a dick for most of the movie). 

And then of course, there's Charles Martin Smith, who...well, no one likes to admit that they relate to him because he's just a big loser. Don't get me wrong, he's probably the most like any person from the real world, but it that of Milner whom every WANTS to be. They know he doesn't have any sort of future, but he has the car. He has the sex appeal. He has the suave deposition. He is who we all wish to be in the world of American Graffiti. And since Paul Le Mat never really did anything better than this movie, no one has any preconceptions of what to think of him. He's a blank slate in the movie world. 

Between him and Mackenzie Phillips as his annoyingly bratty sidekick Carol, the movie just never misses a beat. "Your car is uglier than I am!! (Pause) That didn't come out right." That still makes me laugh even when I think about. Oh Mackenzie Phillips. What perfect delivery you had. 

So that's what I love today. Carol, the 13 year old who is older than the rest, the greaser persona of John Milner and his kick-ass, piss yellow Deuce Coup. Well, him and Bob Falfa anyway. Yeah...Bob Falfa is great too. He's such a dick. 

Oh Harrison Ford. 

Things That I Love Today: Deleted Scenes from Wet, Hot American Summer

I'm sitting here, supposed to be finishing up a pretty major paper that is already a day late (don't fret, it will be finished by the end of tonight) and I just can't bring myself to write the words that need to written for it. I just can't do it. "Why" you ask? Well, simply: I don't care any more. I am literally at the point right now where I have decided that I only want to do the bare minimum of what I need to do in order to pass university. Of course this could change, because, normally, it leads to consistent boredom which is never fun, and I do like to feel as though I am accomplishing some things some times. But for right now, this paper is my third of five, and I've already long passed that line between "the best of my abilities" and "I don't give a tiny rats ass". So that brings me here.

I've been disappointed in myself for not writing anything on this blog as frequently as I had anticipated, so I decided to change that right this moment. I do, have a lot of thoughts, none really personal that I wish to really develop across the internet (I'll save those for close, in depth conversations with people I actually care to share those thoughts with) but rather, ones that general public may be interested in. I have been slowly, but surely, compiling a major entry titled "The @ Pack Initiative" which hopefully will come in to fruitation over the next little bit (essays allowing). There have been a few others I've been cooking up, but for right now, I thought this would be a rather nice and easy, semi-daily section that I could include, called "Things That I Love Today". It would feature random thoughts and fluff that I have hit me over the past day or so, and just write a little about it, hoping to light a spark of interest in it for any one who is reading it. I am really, really going to try and keep this going, so we'll see how bored I get after a while. Anyway, today's entry:

I just finished watching Wet, Hot American Summer for the second or third time around, and was truly reminded exactly how funny it really was. It makes me really miss high school, and wanting to make another Christmas Movie in order to expose more people to that spectrum of comedy. It's really great. Besides Ken Marino and Paul Rudd being equally hilarious, my favourite aspect of teh entire movie is Christopher Meloni as cafeteria chef "Gene". And since this is the first time I'd seen the movie on DVD, I had absolutely no idea of how epic of a character he actually was until I got to see the deleted scenes. Holy phuck. 

Really, his scenes that were deleted from the movie are hysterical. I watched them alone, and was laughing so loud that my neighbors now probably think I'm nuts. He has one line, that I'm extremely pissed wasn't in the movie. Not that it has anything to do with the plot, or anything like that, it's just the funniest part of the entire movie. Bar none. I won't ruin it by trying to describe what it is. Actually there are two scenes. Watch from about 45 seconds in.  Take a look at the link below. 

Wet Hot Deleted Scenes

I dunno...I thought it was hilarious and after watching it, it made me laugh pretty damn hard. So that's why its a thing that I loved today...that and the fact that I also get to write a paper on the entire movie for next week as well. Yeah.

"Blame it on the Bossa Nova"

For the second time around, I have concluded two seasons of The West Wing and feel compelled to extract my elicit enchantment with the overall series. It is in fact the perfect hybrid of humour and intelligence, something that is very rarely found in the television world today. Creator/writer Aaron Sorkin was able to duplicate the brilliance of TWW with his next series,  Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip but alas, it never caught the attention of the public. Stupid public.

As a writer, Sorkin amazes me. He has such an eclectic skill for dialogue that I am never bored when watching these shows. They are dramatic, but also highly funny and are never dependent on one specific character to carry any one episode. That is such a rarity. It's a horrible shame that we don't see more of it (or that more people didn't watch Studio 60 so we would still have it). 

Anyway, the purpose of this post is not to specifically praise The West Wing or Studio 60 or even really Aaron Sorkin (but I assure you, I will in a later post.  I can feel it in me the need to express that desire). What I wanted to just simply state in this post, is my fascination with the way Sorkin is able to write for his women characters. Don't get me wrong, there is quite something to be said for the Sorkin men, but I just can't help but admire the way he writes these roles for women.

I am in no means ready to write a full-fledged article pertaining to the fantastic representation given to these female powerhouses he writes about, as I have only made my way through 2 of 7 seasons of TWW and haven't even glanced at his first series Sports Night. I do feel that perhaps one will be called for a little later on, when I've conquered the rest of the missing seasons. But for the moment, I just wanted to state my pleasure of his ability to capture both the femininity and prowess of his women characters. In an era where television is lacking a strong female output, he shows that it doesn't have to always be the men with the wit. There are hardly enough CJ Craig's or Harriet Haye's out there in TV Land right now. We need more of what Sorkin provides to help support the Liz Lemon's and Patty Hewes's of today.

There will be more at at later date. For now, I just want to post the scene that made me come to this conclusion. I couldn't help but smile wide as the tight-assed, right-winged Ainsley Hayes (Emily Procter) is let loose for the audience, giving us both the real her, and the right one. Enjoy. (or don't...see if I care).

http://www.youtube.comwatch?v=yUCWczTg4WE

Act I, Sc. i

9 o'clock at night. As average an apartment as you can come by. HE sits at his desk with that eery, comforting glow of the computer screen ever so slowly burning his skin and wrecking his retinas. HE seriously debates his every click of the keys, strategically placing each word, one after another, into perfectly formed sentences. 

Eventually, HE looks up at the TV, as "How I Met Your Mother" plays back across the room. HE laughs at the antics of Jason Segel, and returns to his snow covered page. Shovel load after shovel load, HE slowly clears the frost and reveals the workings of a coherent thought. 

Finally, HE reflects on his latest entry to the world of blogging.

HIM

Meh. It'll do I guess.

The words echo across the room, and HE feels the beginning of something with potential...or HE's just impressed that he actually sat down and wrote something. 

Satisfied, HE gets up from his desk and debates his next move for the night. 

We have to wait and see where it goes from here.

HE EXITS.