Welcome to the world's most worthless snowstorm. It's Saturday, so I don't get out of work (and believe me, there's enough out there that even my work would let us go home early!). Had it started during the night, there's a fair chance that swim lessons would've been cancelled, but it didn't start until the second-to-last class was ending. An unrelated note - today's quote of the day from swim lessons is "Yay, water!", as spoken by a very excited two-year-old while she was splashing. But I digress. Back to the snow. It took me more than 20 minutes to get home, I almost died multiple times, and it's a good thing that my car was going to the car place to get fixed this week anyway. If the alignment wasn't messed up before, it's a pretty safe bet that sliding into the curb at the bank messed it up pretty well. So now I'm stuck here. Chances are good that I will be baking again this afternoon. Which is not good, because I really should be writing my thesis. We'll see what happens.As mad as I am at the snow, though, I do have to say how pretty it is. I feel like I'm living in a snowglobe.
Now that I've made my semi-educated guesses regarding the Golden Globe Award film nominations, it's on to my area of more expertise - television. Yay!Best Television Series - Drama: Disclaimer - I'm about three seasons behind on Dexter and House, and one season behind on True Blood. That being said, I don't think any of them really stood a chance anyway, except maybe True Blood. From what I've heard, while all three were both wonderful in their earlier seasons, and continue to be great, none is as good as it was in their respective first seasons. And none could compare to the remaining two nominees. Although, let me just tell you how weird it is to explain to someone why you like the show Big Love so much. "Yeah, it's great! What's it about, you ask? Um...polygamy." Yeah, it goes over well. But it is tremendous, and this past season (which I just finished watching, courtesy of Netflix) was one of the best. That being said, I think Mad Men is the one to beat in this category. And for good reason - the show wins awards left and right, and is showing no signs of slowing down. The show essentially revamped throughout the season, and rather than jumping the shark, it seems to have come through even stronger. That, and Jon Hamm is dreamy :-)Best Actor in a Drama Series: Jon Hamm. See above - Mad Men wins awards like it's its job, and this part was made for him. The rest of them (Simon Baker, Michael C. Hall, the fabulous Hugh Laurie, and Bill Paxton) can't compare.Best Actress in a Drama Series: If ever there was a year for January Jones, I think this is it. That being said, I'll be surprised if she wins against any of the difficult competition: Glenn Close, Julianna Marguiles, Anna Paquin, and Kyra Sedgwick. My limited knowledge of any of the actresses' shows except for Mad Men and True Blood makes it difficult to choose, but based on history, I'm tentatively going with Glenn Close.Best Television Series - Comedy: I think this is the year that 30 Rock is going down. Not that it should - it's one of the greatest shows on television right now - it just has the misfortune to be getting to be the old, unexpected answer in a category with two bright, shiny new toys in it. I still don't know why the ancient Entourage was nominated over something like How I Met Your Mother, but it's here to be ignored, so let's ignore it. You know how I love The Office, but this season, while great, was nothing compared to its competitors. Which brings us to the real contenders - the aforementioned 30 Rock and new toys Glee and Modern Family. 30 Rock is getting old. Not worse, just old. And the Golden Globes have always been good for recognizing fresh, new shows. Which leaves us Glee and Modern Family. All season long, I've been trying to get people to watch both shows, which is made all the more difficult by the fact that they air at the same time. But now that Glee is on hiatus, it is the time for all of you to listen to me and start watching Modern Family. When have I ever steered you wrong? And once you've done that, you will agree with the following statement: Despite the fact that Glee is an original, beautifully crafted masterpiece, and I love it and am counting the days until it returns in April, I want Modern Family to win. I'm not saying it's better, I'm just saying that it is equally deserving and would benefit far more from the win. OK, I said it. I'm going to lock my door to protect myself from the hordes of Gleeks coming to kill me. But seriously, go watch an episode and tell me you don't find it delightful.Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical: I want to marry Matthew Morrison and have his babies. And if Glee is to win an acting award this year, I think it will be his. But I wouldn't be surprised if it's Alec Baldwin (over my future husband Morrison, Steve Carell, David Duchovny, and Thomas Jane) again this year. I never thought I'd love Alec Baldwin, but there you go.Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical: Have you guys seen United States of Tara? Because it's pretty darn awesome. And Toni Collette makes it that way. Of the other four nominees (Courteney Cox, Lea Michele, Edie Falco, and Tina Fey), I think she has the best chance. To be fair, I haven't seen Edie Falco's show yet, and I've heard that she's great, so she probably stands a pretty good chance as well. But my money's on Toni Collette.Supporting Actor and Actress: I hate how the HFPA organizes their supporting actor categories - all actors and actresses in television programs, whether comedy, musical, drama, miniseries, whatever, get grouped together into these two categories. This leads to stupid things, like Chloe Sevigny and Jane Lynch vying for the same award for their performances in Big Love and Glee, respectively. Or Michael Emerson versus Neil Patrick Harris versus John Lithgow in Lost, How I Met Your Mother, and Dexter, for vastly different performances. Between the differences in each performance and the fact that I've seen very few of the nominated miniseries and TV movies, choosing is rather difficult. So I'm picking who I want to win - Jane Lynch and Neil Patrick Harris. And I'd be happy with Chloe Sevigny or Michael Emerson as backup choices. So there you go - watch tonight! See how well I guessed! And be happy for my coworkers that tomorrow is a federal holiday, and they won't have to listen to me recap the entire show for the better part of the morning!
As you probably know if you've spoken with me in the past week or so, the Golden Globe Awards are tonight. I love the Golden Globe awards, and as usual, have spent far more time than usual analyzing the nominations. I've come to a few conclusions about some of the major film awards:Best Motion Picture - Drama: This is a really depressing lot of films. To be fair, I've only seen two and a half of them at present, but let's go through the list. A technologically gorgeous film that says that, basically, in the future, Americans will be evil and aliens will be good and the Americans will kill all of them because of undescribed and unjustified capitalist greed (Avatar). A very well made and realistic film about the war that, no matter how expertly done, is still not what I'd call uplifting (The Hurt Locker). Nazis and Tarantino (Inglourious Basterds). Another reportedly depressing film about an obese minority girl with a wretched family situation (Precious). And a sleek, shiny film about firing people (Up in the Air). How is a girl to choose?! Well, I'll omit the one that made me want to smack it for being preachy and having a crap plot (Avatar). I'll also omit the two I haven't seen (Inglourious Basterds and Precious), because it's easier that way :-). Which leaves me with one that is depressing, realistic, and topical, and one that is depressing, pretty, and topical. Normally I'd go for pretty, especially when that pretty is Intern George, but in this case, I'm picking The Hurt Locker. I feel like the war will resonate more than the country's economic difficulties, although I'd be OK with either. As long as it's not the overrated and vapid Avatar, I'm happy. And either way, this category is like a freaking ray of sunshine...I feel like they should hand out Prozac to the voters after they've viewed the nominees.Best Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical: I like when I've seen the majority of the nominated films in a category. Well, I do as long as I agree with the winner (case in point - last year's Oscar Best Picture race.) Such is the case for this category. The only one I haven't seen is It's Complicated, which I don't think has much of a chance anyway. Of the others - Nine was gorgeous. I love Rob Marshall, and you all know my weakness for musicals. And check out the trailer - isn't it fabulous? I could watch it all day. However, it was missing this little thing called a plot, which is kind of important for moviemaking. When your movie compantion turns to you an hour into the film and says "Tell me again what this movie's supposed to be about?", you know there's a problem. Julie and Julia was carried by the spectacular performances of its lead actresses, but may be a bit too frothy to win - much like the aforementioned It's Complicated. Which leads me to two of my top ten movies of the past year - The Hangover and (500) Days of Summer. I have a great weakness for vulgar comedies like The Hangover. I quote them like it's my job. (Actually, I often quote them AT my job). And this one has the added bonus of a talented cast; an intricate, well planned plot; and this - one of the greatest moments in cinema in all of 2009. I'd be thrilled if it won. That being said, if I were a member of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, my vote would be for the endearing (500) Days of Summer. While it's a bit depressing for the category (maybe it should've been in the other one!), it's an overall lovely film. Go rent it. Now. Go on, I'll wait. And buy Zooey Deschanel's CD while you're at it. Other Awards: As I haven't seen all of the nominated performances and animated films, it's a lot harder to judge them than it is the films as a whole. Therefore, I give you this list, generated purely out of my personal preferences: Emily Blunt (even though she's marrying John Krasinski). Colin Firth (for obvious reasons). Meryl Streep (same thing). Joseph Gordon-Levitt (see above regarding (500) Days). Up (which was a delight, and deserves everything it's won so far). Anna Kendrick (even though I'd bet money that it'll be Mo'nique). Stanley Tucci. And Kathryn Bigelow (because anything that involves James Cameron losing is OK with me).
