I know I'm going to get shit for saying this, but here it goes: James Dean is terrible.

Okay, that was a mild exaggeration, but he's far from the iconic, amazing actor that some people think of him as. I will admit, having two Academy Award nominations by the time you're 24 is pretty amazing, but both of his performances were mediocore at best. Here's a quote I like, from IMDb.

Director Elia Kazan did not believe that Dean would have been able to sustain the momentum of his career. He felt that Dean's career, had he lived, would have sputtered out, as he was not well-trained and relied too much on his instincts, as opposed to his idol Marlon Brando, who, contrary to what people believed, had been very well-trained by his acting teacher Stella Adler and relied on that training to create his characters.

It's pretty well-known that Dean idolized Brando (any aspiring actor should, since Marlon Brando is pretty much the best actor ever), and also pretty well-known that he would just do his thing, and not rely on actual talent or direction. Dean had a very momentary, free-flowing style of acting. Dean also had a really screwed up personal life (which I won't go into details about, just wikipedia it), which naturally makes it tought to maintain a professional career. But real-life details aside, my whole point is this: You can't base someone's status as a 'legend' on three performances, and think that if they had lived, they would've been the best thing ever. It's been amazingly good for his career that he died how he did.

Now, let's compare this to Marilyn Monroe (this is a loose comparison, but bear with me [plus I love Marilyn Monroe, but this is unbiased, I assure you]). Marilyn Monroe died when she was 36, and I think a lot of her appeal would be gone had she lived a normal lifespan (let's say she lived to be 70), because she would've taken roles as an older woman, and not been so much the sex symbol she was. The fact that she died so young stuck her in history as a permanent super-star and cultural icon, much like James Dean; however, Marilyn Monroe made about twenty movies, and as her career progressed, she became more involved, eventually owning her own production company, taking acting lessons, and by the end, other than her notorious unreliability (sickness, missing work, etc.), she was growing immensely as an actress, and genuinely wanted to improve her life.

James Dean was not--he was too busy making freakish phone calls to Marlon Brando in the early morning hours, had already reached a career high point (he didn't win any Oscars [and rightfully so]), and the only place for him to go was down.

If you're someone looking for an idol, or just looking for a great actor who has a good career that spanned more than two decent movies, don't be lazy--watch the works of any number of other legendary actors: Marlon Brando, William Holden, Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, Spencer Tracey, James Stewart, Clark Gable, Gregory Peck... that's a short list, and only males. There's also plenty of females, probably even more than the guys.

Alright, end of rant.

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I was walking to my car this afternoon, and on the passenger side there were four cats just sitting there, staring at my car. And these weren't those cute stray cats that look like they just became homeless. These were the brown, garbage-covered, rabid zombie cats. I walked close to them, and most of them ran off, and at first I thought I must've hit something (or someone) and it was stuck under my car. I looked, and there was another cat under there, and I thought it was dead, but when I walked around to the other side it was gone.

So weird.

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Ok, just for fun, I'm going to rank my personal TOP TEN of 2006. This does not include Letters From Iwo Jima because I didn't see it yet, but I've seen everything else noteworthy.

1. THE DEPRATED
2. THE QUEEN
3. PAN'S LABYRINTH
4. CHILDREN OF MEN
5. THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA
6. DREAMGIRLS
7. HALF NELSON
8. BORAT
9. CASINO ROYALE
10. LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE

And now I'm done posting about anything related to the Oscars or 2006 movies. I swear.

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So today I ran into one of my friends, and she was wearing a shirt for the band Plain White T's. Yet, oddly, while the shirt was white, it had numerous designs and logos on it. Isn't that a bit oxymoronic? Wouldn't the most logical advertisement for the band be, you know, a plain white t-shirt? But then again, people who aren't familiar with the band wouldn't get it, and even those who are may just think you like white t-shirts. Quite the little dilemma, there.

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So, about the actual Oscar program...

Ellen wasn't a bad host. She was no Jon Stewart, but then again -- who is?

There was lots of boring stuff that could've been cut to make the ceremony short and sweet. The AMPAS wonders why their ratings decline? Here's why:

Celine Dion - boring. Cut.
The shadow dancers were cool, but just fillers. Cut.
Foreign Language film winners, kinda cool, but still... Cut.
The tribute to America in film, or whatever. Cut.
Happy Feet thing at the beginning. Cut.
Will Ferrell/Jack Black. Definitely cut (and I usually like Will Ferrell)
Commercials. Cut... oh wait, they can't do that.

Show the awards and winners, have a few bits by the host, original songs performed, best picture clips introduced, the couple honorary awards, and that's it. Is it too much to ask? We all love Snakes on a Plane references, but it's just a waste of time. However, I did like the showing of the costumes. That part can stay as well.

Little fact: these Oscars had the third lowest ratings, beating out only 2006 and 2003. Terrible.

In semi-related news, I think I did okay on a Spanish quiz today, but even if I failed, who cares. I'll be in a good mood for the next three weeks and nothing can affect that.

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Tonight was a great night!

(This is going to be the most jumbled post ever, but oh well.)

Here's how I reacted as the night progressed:

Pan's Labyrinth wins the first two Oscars: "Oh my God, tonight's going to be a great night."

Alan Arkin upsets Eddie Murphy: "Ugh, this isn't a good sign."

Lots of the upsets and second-placers get the Oscar (elaborated later): "God damnit."

Babel wins score, Little Miss Sunshine wins Screenplay: "This has got to be a joke."

Thelma Schoonmaker wins editing for The Departed: "Yes! YES! All the previous wrongs are gone, The Departed has it!"

Then when Scorsese won, and The Departed won, all was right in the world, and now I can be happy for another year. Thank Christ.

Who Deserved the Wins

Scorsese and The Departed obviously deserved their wins. Thank God Scorsese is finally awarded.

Forest Whitaker managed a not totally mumbled speech, and Helen Mirren was as elegant and articulate as usual. Gotta love her.

Thelma Schoonmaker for Editing. This woman is a legend, and she pulled this win while still winning only two years ago. I think I was happier at this award than anything else up to that point.

The Departed for adapted screenplay was well deserved.

The Surprises

I would've bet lots of money on The Queen taking original screenplay, despite most people saying Little Miss Sunshine was the frontrunner. Oh well, it could've been worse, and gone to Babel. *shudders*

Costume design for Marie Antoinette. This was my first guess but I changed it due to a lack of other major nominations. Guess next year I'll go with my gut.

Alan Arkin best supporting actor... Sigh. This is pretty much a huge upset, since Eddie Murphy won everything beforehand. Everything. I guess Norbit, plus his various antic, plus Arkin's seniority pulled him through. Too bad the same couldn't be said for Peter O'toole. I really suck at picking supporting actor.

Pan's Labyrinth for cinematography... I said a month or so ago that it was a toss up (for me) between this and Children of Men. I'm surprised Pan's Labyrinth won, and wish Children of Men did, but we all know how I love that fantasy movie, so it's sort of like a pleasant surprise...

The Complete Jokes

Melissa Etheridge winning original song? Are you kidding me? Obviously as a result of split votes between the Dreamgirls songs. Sigh.

Babel for original score? All of the other nominees produced better work this year. God damn that movie.

Foreign Language Film is what makes me the most mad. How does a film come in with SIX nominations, five outside of this catagory, WIN THREE of them, but still lose it's main Oscar? Granted, The Lives of Others was the 'dark horse' (I hate that term), but seriously... This irritates me.

Happy Feet over Cars? Even over Monster House... I didn't think Cars was anything amazing, but at least it had, how do you say it... 'quality?' Yeah, that's it.

Conclusion

So I predicted 12/22, which is a pretty crappy percentage. I still stick by what I said as the 'best' in their catagories, so whatever. I don't even care, because The Departed/Scorsese won, and that makes up for the crappiness of last year. All is well in the world, and now I'm going to go watch The Departed and fall asleep.

PS. The worst part of the night was Meryl Streep not presenting anything.

PPS. How scary is Jack Nicholson with no hair?

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With six days to go and all the major guild awards done, it's about time to make some final Oscar predictions. A lot of these won't be a shock. The AMPAS likes to go with comfortable choices, and upsets are usually rare. Having more than one in a year is pretty uncanny.

Best Picture: Preference/Prediction: The Departed
Best Director: Pref/Pred: Martin Scorsese
Lead Actor: Pref/Pred: Forest Whitaker
Best Actress: Pref/Pred: Helen Mirren
Supporting Actor: Pref: Mark Wahlberg. Pred: Eddie Murphy
Supporting Actress: Pref: Cate Blanchett. Pred: Jennifer Hudson
Original Screenplay: Pref/Pred: The Queen
Adapted Screenplay: Pref/Pred: The Departed
Animated Feature: Pref/Pred: Cars
Documentary Feature: Pred: An Inconvenient Truth
Foreign Language Film: Pref/Pred: Pan's Labyrinth
Cinematography: Pref/Pred: Children of Men
Art Direction: Pref/Pred: Pan's Labyrinth
Editing: Pref: The Departed. Pred: Babel
Visual Effects: Pref/Pred: Pirates of the Caribbean
Costume Design: Pref/Pred: Dreamgirls
Makeup: Pref/Pred: Pan's Labyrinth
Sound Mixing: Pref/Pred: Dreamgirls
Sound Editing: Pref/Pred: Pirates of the Caribbean
Original Score: Pref: Pan's Labyrinth. Pred: The Queen
Original Song: Pref/Pred: 'Listen' from Dreamgirls
Animated Short: Pred: The Little Matchgirl
Live Action Short: No idea.
Documentary Short: No idea.

I hope this year doesn't disappoint.

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I've watch tons of movies since my last extensive update, but I'll just mention the most recent two:

Half Nelson; No doubt that the main reason to watch this flick is to see Ryan Gosling in his best role to date. He plays a drug-addicted history teacher at a junior high school, and when one of his thirteen year-old students discovers his habit, they form a unique friendship. This movie isn't without a few pacing flaws, but Gosling gives a memorable performance and it's definitely worth a rental.

A Scanner Darkly; An interesting cell-shading take on what could be happening seven years in the future. A new Substance D drug is highly addictive and, in simple terms, messes with the user's brain. The movie stretches the viewer in ambivalence, with some parts being interesting, deep, or funny; however, the movie fails to keep up the suspence, and the problem with cell-shading is that it takes away the depth of live action movies, and glazes over what could be top-notch animation (we'll say Pixar movies, for a quintessential example). The concept is a fresh take on addiction, but the movie falls short in the closing scenes. Two important things with this movie: first, even when cell-shaded, Winona Ryder is hot, and second, Robert Downey Jr. is the most memorable 'performance' in the movie. If anything, I love when he does the bullet-through-the-head motion (see about 1:15 in the video below). Worth a viewing on HBO.

Here's the trailer for the latter movie.

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Word of the day: 'incredulous(ly)'

I was in one of my workshops today and one girl had a pretty badly proofread manuscript (lots of typos and gramatical errors), and while we were critiquing it, another girl said something like, "It seemed like you used too many big words, some of which I don't even think are real words. Like, _________, or ________, or in..credu...lously..."

So, I think the first two were actually made up, but when she said the last one, the whole class was like, "...incredulously is a real word, it's like 'skeptical'." It was pretty amazing.

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