Oscars Tonight!

I'm pretty excited to watch the Oscars tonight, because

1. I'm going to watch them with a bunch of people who are pretty much as excited as I am
2. I've actually seen ALL the Best Picture nominees, for the first time in my life!

I agree with the #OscarsSoWhite campaign to get more diverse people involved in every aspect of movie production, but I also agree that the real issue starts outside the Oscars, with the choices of movie executives and casting directors. In most ways, the Oscars nominees are just reflecting what is being put out there. Even so, I am happy to hear that the Academy is going to push through some apparently aggressive changes in its membership to increase the number of women and people of color. Here's hoping Oscars 2017 has a noticeable increase in diversity, and that it keeps going up from then on.

And now, MY choices for the winners for 2016 Oscars.

Best Picture: 
#1 choice: Spotlight
2. Brooklyn
3. The Big Short
4. Bridge of Spies
5. The Martian
6. Room
7. Mad Max
8. The Revenant - The Revenant is favored to win. Obviously, I am not so supportive of that.

I haven't seen all the performances for the rest of these categories, so I'm just picking based on what I've seen.

Best Actor: Matt Damon?
I don't really have a strong favorite here. I think Leo DiCaprio is great, but doesn't NEED an Oscar the way everyone says he does. It's not like he's close to the end of his career. The guy is 41 for crying out loud! And I am thankful that it looks like Redmayne will not win for The Danish Girl. That performance was not great.

Best Actress: Any of them
Really, I have seen all of these performances, and they are all amazing. I'm happy for any of them.

Best Supporting Actor: Mark Rylance
I REALLY liked him in Bridge of Spies. Apparently Stallone is favored to win from Creed, but I haven't seen that movie yet!

Best Supporting Actress: Rooney Mara
This is the one that I feel most strongly about in the acting awards, because Mara's performance in Carol basically convinced me that she is a good actress (I didn't really like her in previous movies like The Social Network or Side Effects). I don't think she's going to win though; the buzz is mainly for Alicia Vikander. I really like Vikander too! I just liked Mara's performance more.

Edited the day after the Oscars to add: YAY! Two of my top choices (Spotlight and Mark Rylance) won!!! Hooray for minor upsets!! 

image via

You know how when you finish reading a really good book

...you keep forgetting you finished it, because you were so deeply engrossed in it?

I'm going through that period of withdrawal after finishing Bring Up the Bodies. Take me back to 16th century England!!

On this, the day of (OK, a few days after) my birthday

I meant to write a post on my birthday (6 days ago) reflecting on the past year and making goals for the next year. I didn't do that, obviously. Mainly because eating pizza and gelato took priority after I got home from work on Friday.

I am now 31 and weirdly feel like I should be more of an adult than ever. I am officially out of my twenties. This is the year when there aren't really any more milestones coming up, right? Until...I get to join AARP?

Anyway, these are the things I want to focus on more in the next year of my life. They don't change that much from year to year, but it makes me feel more productive to write them down once in a while. These are listed in a rough order of importance to me.

1. Spend as much time as possible with people I love -- friends and family members.
2. Show the people I love that I love them (remember their birthdays, hug them, say "I love you" to them, etc.)
3. Be compassionate. Try to be nice to everyone. *
4. Try to keep listening to new music (apparently most people stop listening to new music at about age 32...I'm almost there).
5. Keep traveling, but don't feel obligated to make "big" trips. New cities, new states.

Those are the top five. I have a couple more, but I don't think they're quite interesting enough to post (e.g. do my taxes before April). Let's see how this year goes. I am optimistic.

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*I listened to the Death, Sex, & Money podcast on my birthday and heard the wonderfully frank Lucinda Williams talking about her father's poem, "Compassion."

Compassion

by Miller Williams

Have compassion for everyone you meet,
even if they don’t want it. What seems conceit, 

bad manners, or cynicism is always a sign 

of things no ears have heard, no eyes have seen.
You do not know what wars are going on

down there where the spirit meets the bone.