And the nominees are......

I am like a little kid on Christmas morning! The 83rd Academy Award nominees were announced this morning and I was sure to set my alarm and watch to see who would receive this year's highest honor!

As I've mentioned before, I try every year to see as many of the nominated movies as I possibly can. I typically see the ones nominated for the "big" awards first and then go to the ones that are nominated for the most awards. Here's how this year's films broke down:

The nominees for the "big" awards are:

Best Motion Picture:

• “Black Swan”
  
• “The Fighter”
  
• “Inception”
  
• “The Kids Are All Right”
  
• “The King's Speech”
  
• “127 Hours”
  
• “The Social Network”
  
• “Toy Story 3”
  
• “True Grit”
• “Winter's Bone"
  

Best Actress:

• Annette Bening in “The Kids Are All Right”
• Nicole Kidman in “Rabbit Hole”
• Jennifer Lawrence in “Winter's Bone”
• Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”
• Michelle Williams in “Blue Valentine”

Best Actor:

• Javier Bardem in “Biutiful”
• Jeff Bridges in “True Grit”
• Jesse Eisenberg in “The Social Network”
• Colin Firth in “The King's Speech”
• James Franco in “127 Hours”

Best Supporting Actress:

• Amy Adams in “The Fighter”
• Helena Bonham Carter in “The King's Speech”
• Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”
• Hailee Steinfeld in “True Grit”
• Jacki Weaver in “Animal Kingdom”

Best Supporting Actor:

• Christian Bale in “The Fighter”
• John Hawkes in “Winter's Bone”
• Jeremy Renner in “The Town”
• Mark Ruffalo in “The Kids Are All Right”
• Geoffrey Rush in “The King's Speech”

Best Director:

• “Black Swan” Darren Aronofsky
• “The Fighter” David O. Russell
• “The King's Speech” Tom Hooper
• “The Social Network” David Fincher
• “True Grit” Joel Coen and Ethan Coen

Best Adapted Screenplay:

• “127 Hours”
• “The Social Network”
  
• “Toy Story 3”
• “True Grit”
• “Winter's Bone”
  

Best Original Screenplay:

• “Another Year”
  
• “The Fighter”
• “Inception”
• “The Kids Are All Right”
• “The King's Speech”

Best Animated Film:

• “How to Train Your Dragon”
  
• “The Illusionist”
• “Toy Story 3”
  

Here's the breakdown based on the number of nominations:

The King's Speech--12 nominations
True Grit--10 nominations
The Social Network--8 nominations
Inception (my favorite movie of the year)--8 nominations
The Fighter--7 nominations
127 Hours--6 nominations
Black Swan--5 nominations
Toy Story 3--5 nominations
Winter's Bone--4 nominations
The Kids Are Alright--4 nominations
Alice in Wonderland--3 nominations
Biutiful--2 nominations
Harry Potter--2 nominations
How to Train Your Dragon--2 nominations

And then there's a million with 1 nomination:
The Town
Rabbit Hole
Blue Valentine
Animal Kingdom
I Am Love
Tempest
Dogtooth (what up Greece!!!)
In a Better World
Incendies
Outside the Law
Barney's Version
Another Year
Hereafter
Iron Man 2
The Way Back
The Wolfman
The Illisionist
Exit Through the Gift Shop
Gasland
Inside Job
Restrepo
Waste Land
Country Strong
Tangled
Tron: Legacy
Salt
Unstoppable

***I did not include nominees for any of the Short films (Documentary, Animated or Live Action) because if you live in Minnesota it is nearly impossible to ever see these films. So if you're the creator of one of these and you're reading this blog...I'm sorry. :)

Well, I have 33 days to see all of these movies! Wish me luck and I'll keep you posted!!!!

And, I have just one quick rant....I HATE THAT THERE ARE 10 BEST FILM NOMINATIONS! I hate it I hate it I hate it! I hated it last year, I hate it even more this year! I think it takes away from the prestige of being nominated and even winning. SO DUMB!

What are your favorite movies of the year? Who do you think deserves the best actor and best actress awards?! IS ANYONE ELSE OBSESSED LIKE ME AND BOUNCING OFF THE WALLS WITH EXCITEMENT?!?!?!?!?

The Bachelor Brief

Another season of the Bachelor has started and thanks to my DVR completely forgetting my love for the show, I missed the first episode. Luckily, ABC replayed it on Saturday and I was able to get caught up last night. I've always liked Brad Womack but was surprised and slightly annoyed when they gave him a second chance as The Bachelor, however, the idea is growing on me.

First of all, I am SOOOOOO sick of Brad getting lambasted for not picking a girl the first time around. I had major respect for Brad for being honest and not proposing to someone he didn't love just because he was supposed to! Sure, I was bummed that him and DeAnna didn't end up together, but it was better then him proposing just so they could break up 2 months later. I would rather be dumped by Brad Womack than proposed to by Jake Pavelka any day! And what about Jason Mesnick? Don't you think everyone would have been better off if he wouldn't have proposed to Melissa just to dump her for Molly on national television? I mean, I'm sure they all would have preferred that he had been honest and taken more time to figure out what he wanted. I absolutely love this show, but the chances of people finding true love are slim....yes....it worked for some couples and that's great! But, let's be realisitic. More Bachelor/ettes should be like Brad and be honest with themselves and the contestants and not make a mockery out of proposing marriage. It's a BIG deal. I would hope to God that if J had any doubts about spending his life with me he would take more time to figure it out before proposing....wouldn't you? So why this double standard for people on a TV show. C'mon guys, it's just dumb.

Enough of the rant, let's get down to business. The first episode is hard because there are so many girls, and sometimes the crazies lay low for the first couple of episodes. But, based on what I saw last night here are my favorite girls and my not-so-favorite girls, so far.


Emily is adorable. She lost her husband in a plane crash 6 years ago only to find out days later that she was pregnant. She is a true southern belle, she is classy and sweet and completely gorgeous! I'm excited to see how her and Brad get along, as she didn't get much face time the first episode.


Ashley S. seems so normal! She became my favorite instantly when she told Brad she wasn't going to judge him based on his last season. She said, everyone makes relationship mistakes and I'm not going to judge you for it. THANK YOU! Someone who has a clue! Every person you date, whether it's on TV or not is going to have baggage. She also got the first impression rose, so she's the front runner for Brad too!


I thought Jill seemed really sweet and normal, but I guess Brad disagreed. She got the boot the first episode and I was super bummed as she was one of my favorites.


Marissa didn't get much face time episode one, but I like her. She's a sports publicist and seems really cute. Plus, thanks to dumpees DeAnna and Jenni we know Brad like brunettes.


Madison......what is up with this girl? She thinks she is a vampire and is a complete and total idiot! You know the only reason Brad gave her a rose was because the producers want to keep this loon around. Yuck, I can't stand her.


Ashley H. annoys the crap out of me. She's the dentist who loves to "shake her booty." She seems really full of herself and she's bugging me right out of the gate. We'll see how it goes with this girl.


I have mixed feelings about Michelle. She is absolutely stunning, like so beautiful it makes me sick, but I can see her becoming a diva. It seems like the really hot girls always think they're better than the other girls and just assume they're going to win because they're hot....which always causes drama. I don't have anything negative to say about what we've seen of her personality, so I'll just have to keep my eye on this one.

So did you watch last Monday? Who are your early favorites?

I'm excited to see what goes down tonight!

Thoughts on Thursday

Once again I am copying my BB and using this Thursday to share my random thoughts, and boy do I have a lot of them.

I have been on a Friends tangent lately. I get in these moods where I have to watch Friends, like all the time. The beginning of December I started on Season1, Episode 1 and now I'm beginning the 9th Season. I am so obsessed with this damn show and it never gets old.

Earlier this week my mom and I saw Black Swan. Holy Moly! It was AMAZING but also scared the pants off of me. I am super afraid of birds and mirrors (it's a long story) and this movie consists of both....and a lot of them. If you've seen it you know what I mean. I highly recommend this movie, it was brilliantly directed and Natalie Portman was beyond amazing! If she doesn't win an Oscar I will revolt! But, if you do go see it, beware that it is hard to watch. It is extremely dark and twisted and disturbing, but so so good! And, if you're afraid of birds and mirrors, be sure to bring your mommy with you!

I am seriously obsessed with the Tim McGraw Number One Hits album. I am newer to country, I stopped completely hating it about 5 years ago and began to love it about two years ago, so a few of the songs on the album are new to me. Oh man, I love it so so so much!

I really can't believe tomorrow is the last day of 2010! Where has the year gone! I am excited for New Year's Eve but even more excited for what 2011 has to bring! It is going to be a GREAT year!

I think next Tuesday (my day off) I am going to bite the bullet and make the largest purchase I have ever made (by choice that is) and buy my wedding shoes! I am soooo excited! And kind of nervous, though, I'm not sure why I'm nervous!

Miss Britney Jean Spears has a new album coming out in March and the new single drops in January!!!! I am SO UNBELIEVABLY EXCITED!!!! Britney is my girl and I am so glad she is doing so well and continuing to make music AND from what I've heard this is going to have a more old school Brit Brit pop sound! WAHOO!!! Is it March yet?!

Fashion Friday

Before I can talk about fashion, I have to briefly talk about dancing! The So You Think You Can Dance finale was last night and it was AMAZING! We got to see all the best routines from the season, got to see Ellen bust a hip hop routine and the amazingly talented Lauren Froederman took home the title of America's Favorite Dancer! I have loved her from the beginning, and even though my loyalty switched to Robert halfway through the season, I was so happy to see her win. These top three were my top 2-4 dancers of all time (Twitch is number 1). This season was so fabulous and I am super sad it's over.

CONGRATS LAUREN! 

Back to business. Last night's Project Runway was one of the unconventional challenges. The designers had $100 dollars to spend at Party Glitter to get the materials for their design. Normally, these challenges bring out some horrifying designs but I was really impressed with this season's creativity and ability to make, overall, some pretty cute stuff.  
My favorites were.....

I LOVE this dress! Valerie made this super cute, sexy, stylish and fun dress out of napkins! It's made out of frickin napkins people! The back was super cute too (I couldn't find a picture) but it had braided napkin straps. Unbelievable. I think Valerie has been snubbed for the win two weeks in a row.

Gretchen had yet another amazing design, but her personality is getting more and more annoying with each passing episode. She has quickly become the most hated among the designers and I foresee some drama with her. This look was adorable though. She was able to make three separate pieces....using party supplies! Pretty remarkable. I'm not a fan of the boots with the look, but overall I really liked it, especially the skirt!

The not so much looks for the night were....

AJ's design, oh boy! I looks like a bachelorette party threw up on this poor girl. All we heard about the whole episode is how this is "AJ's challenge" because he typically uses these kinds of materials in his designs, really? This is what you do and you come up with this design? I was super disappointed because AJ's designs have been my favorites the past two weeks, but this one is just straight up bad!

Cassanova should have gone home. This is the second time in three weeks that he has put something so despicably ugly down the runway. First of all, he completely disregarded Tim's advice to stick with un-fabric like materials a la table cloths. Of course, Cassanova grabs every table cloth he can find and blames it on the language barrier. I think the only reason Cassanova snuck through again this week is because he is highly entertaining! I mean that accent is pretty amazing. I almost cried every time he said "Plush Puppies." Whose with me?

WINNER

Andy won this challenge, and I'm OK with that. His dress was very innovative and well constructed, it's made out of ribbon! It wasn't my favorite look, but I can appreciate the judges choice on this one.

PEACE OUT CUB SCOUT

Sarah was the unfortunate designer who bit the dust last night. Now, I agree this design is not good but at least she knew it. She had a hard time being inspired and putting together something she liked. I realize that's not an excuse, especially when the whole point of the show is to design something amazing under extreme situations....but this dress is not worse than Cassanova's and even AJ's. I though it was unfair she went home.

What about you? Did you watch last night? What was your favorite or least favorite look? Anything else fashion related you want to share? The grab the F.F. button and go to town! 

A also have to take a quick second to thank Desiree from Hitting My Stride for this award! Thanks lady!

 If you don't read Desiree's blog you ABSOLUTELY need to! She is smart, sincere and hilarious. Her blog is one of my absolute favorites!

I hope you all have a great weekend!

First Ever FASHION FRIDAY!

Welcome everyone to my first ever Fashion Friday!!! The point of F.F. is to recap, discuss and critique the newest season of Project Runway and fashion in general! Here are the rules:

-If you watch Project Runway, make sure to tell us your FAVORITE and LEAST FAVORITE design from last night's show! Feel free to hype up your fave designer or knock down the ones you despise.
-If you DON'T watch Project Runway, then post about anything fashion related....favorite celeb styles, the bangin' new shoes you bought, the ugliest pants you've ever seen....ANYTHING!
-Grab the button! You gotta! Just copy and paste the link from the right side of my page in to your post!
-Finally, make sure to link up (bottom of the post) so everyone can see what you're posting!

Sweet? Awesome? Ok....on to business!

Last night we got to meet the new Season 8 designers in a very awkward and seemingly staged set up all over New York. It's too early to tell, but there are already a lot of designers I like....personality wise that is. We'll see how irritating they get as the weeks go on, and of course, see how they design. All the contestants met Tim and Heidi outside the beautiful Lincoln Center (how cool that it's the new home for NY's Fashion Week). The designers were told that although there were 17 of them, only 16 (or less) would actually be making the show! So, each designer had to dig through their suitcase, find a favorite item of theirs and then proceed to pass it to the designer to the right! Each designer had a piece of another designer's clothing that they had to incorporate in their new design and they only had 5 HOURS to do it!

MY FAVORITES:

 AJ's design. I love this dress, minus the big silver bow (that definitely can go)! It's a little 80's, Sixteen Candle-esque but I really like it. It's fun, flirty, different, stylish. I enjoy it!

Peach's design. This is a little older style, but Peach is a little older and her aesthetic is a little older. I thought this dress was well made, thoughtful and super cute for summer. I wasn't a huge fan of the tulle in the back, but I know she had to do it to make that awful scarf she was given work. I'm interested to see what else she does this season. Right now, I think she's pretty darn funny too. We'll see if she get's irritating.









LEAST FAVORITES

 Casanova's design. YIKES. This was just straight up bad. Tasteless, poor design, ugly, trashy, yuck. yuck. yuck. Please tell me how he didn't go home??? So ridiculous. Selma Blair (the guest judge) kept saying it was" fascinating!" No it wasn't! It was gross!

Jason's design. Ok. This looks like a bed sheet and not in a "I"m cute and going to a toga party" kind of way. There's no shape and really no design. I like Jason, as a person so far, so I'm glad they kept him....but this was bad. Sloppy and bad.













The Winner!

Gretchen wins the first challenge! I did like this dress. It was beautifully done and she did a great job incorporating her given fabric. I will say I was a little underwhelmed. I get why it won, and like I said, it's cute but I wasn't wowed. But, to be fair, I wasn't wowed by any of them.













Peace Out, Thanks for Playing

McKell's design. Maybe I have terrible taste, but I liked this dress. I love the skirt, and if the top had a little more to it and maybe was a little bit more interesting, I think it would have been great. I agree that the styling was AWFUL! The hair, shoes and purse do not go with each other or the outfit. I am so angry that the judges sent McKell home. Jason and Casanova's designs were SOOOO much worse! What a rip off. And I HATE how stupid Heidi kept saying "One or more of you will be out." Yeah right, we all know you're starting the show with 16 designers. You're not fooling anyone you crazy German!







Speaking of Heidi. What did you think of her new hair? A much darker blonde and a shorter cut! I don't like the color, I think she looks much better as a blonde blonde. I do like the cut though! However, last night it looked like she just walked out of a romp with Seal....it was a mess!

All images from MyLifetime.com

If you can't get enough P.R. then head over to the website and check out the blogs from past contestants. Carol Hannah Whitfield (Season 6), Laura Bennett (Season 3) and my all time fave contestant Nick Verreos (Season 2) are back and blogging about the current season! Check out Nick's blog HERE, it's hilarious! Only problem....he hated my favorite two dresses, sad day!

OK, ladies! It's your turn! Let's hear it! Grab the button! Link up! Let's talk fashion!!!

Recaps, Reviews, Predictions and Ideas

So much to discuss today! Let's start with my book REVIEW of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larsson.

Like everyone else I've talked to, I loved it! It took me about 50 pages before I really got in to it. The first 50 are pretty slow moving, but trust me it's definitely worth getting through. This book was dark, suspensful, thought provoking and well written. It was so well written, in fact, that I was super creeped out and had a hard time falling asleep while reading it. It definitely is dark and contains some pretty graphic and horrific scenes, so readers beware. I know they are in the works of making a movie based on the book and I really, REALLY hope they do it justice. It's such an interesting story with a lot of details that need to be included to make the story successful! According to IMDb, the film version has a predicted release date of December 2011 and shows Daniel Craig playing the role of Mikael Blomkvist (for those of you who have read it). I'm not going to give a summary or synopsis in case any of you are still waiting to read it, but I highly recommend it. Do it now, before the movie comes out! You'll be glad you did. And, I'm super excited because one of my friends has recently finished the two sequels to the book and is letting me borrow them!

Next up on my reading list, Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin.

Since it is Thursday, you all know you've got a So You Think You Can Dance RECAP and PREDICTION coming your way! Last night, the final 6 dancers each danced one routine with an All-Star, one routine with a fellow contestant and a solo in their own style! It was another great night filled with amazing talent. Since there were a billion performances, I narrowed it down to my top 3! 

Robert & All-Star Kathryn in a Stacey Tookey Contemporary

This routine brought tears to my eyes. The concept was a soldier leaving their loved one for war. The choreography was excellent and Robert and Kathryn were breathtaking. The concept really resonated with me and the whole thing was just beautiful. 

Billy and All-Star Ade in a Stacey Tookey Contemporary

It was a great night for Stacey Tookey! She choreographed two amazing routines! I loved this one. It was about a high class man and a low class man and at the climax of the routine they realize they know each other. Both dancers danced in completely different contemporary styles and the contrast was amazing. The music was perfect, choreography was perfect, concept was perfects, characters were perfect and the dancing was perfect. One of my favorite of the season. 

Billy & Robert in a Nakul Dev Mahajan Bollywood

 This was my favorite routine of the night! I LOVE Bollywood and it was so fun to see these two amazing dancers do it! I want to find a Bollywood dance class to take! I know it would be ridiculously hard, but the routines always look so fun and what a great workout! Both boys did a wonderful job!!!

Now, for the hard part. Tonight two dancers are going home and the FINAL FOUR will be revealed.

I think Jose is going home for sure. He is without a doubt the worst of the remaining dancers. He's as sweet as can be and I love him, but he isn't formally trained. He is a phenomenal B-Boy, but is having a rough time with the other styles.

I think Kent and Lauren are shoe-ins (and will be the final two) but who will be joining them?

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think Billy, Robert and AdeChike are all deserving of being in the Final Four! I will say the Robert has surpassed Kent as my favorite! I absolutely love him and he gets better and better each week. Plus, he's easy on the eyes. I wasn't the biggest fan of Billy and up until last night would have picked AdeChike, but Billy Bell was outstanding last night. I thought his solo was the best of the group and I think he landed himself a spot in the top. I guess we'll just have to see what all the crazy teenage girls voting came up with!

All images from Fox.comhttp://www.fox.com/dance/

And, finally, for my big IDEA. I know from reading all your wonderful blogs that a lot of you are quite the little fashionistas. Because of your fabulous fashion sense, I'm guessing quite a few of you watch

Season 8 starts tonight on Lifetime and I cannot wait! There's 17 new designers and the show is now 90 minutes long! 

So, my big idea is to start one of those fun little Linky games! I figure this way we can all give our two cents on the season as it progresses and follow along with what we're all saying. This doesn't have to be a big dedication post, just throw it in with whatever else you're posting about every Friday. Just pick your favorite and least favorite designs from the night before. Then, feel free to share your favorite designers or rant about your not-so-favorites! And, if you're feeling really inspired share some of your favorite fashions, style icons,outfits, tips....anything you want! And of course don't forget to grab this super sweet button I made

See you all tomorrow for the first ever FASHION FRIDAY!!!!

Date Night!

Last night I got to spend the evening with my two boyfriends, J and Leo. I have been whining since last Friday (when it came out) and finally last night we went to see Inception. HOLY COW, you guys! If you have not seen this movie yet...go! Go right now! Get up and head to the theater! You're boss won't care! Trust me!

If you don't know what Inception is, get out of your cave, watch this trailer and then head to the theater.

Alright, so by now you know that Inception is the new Christopher Nolan film starring Leonardo DiCaprio. If any of you saw The Dark Knight then you know that Nolan is a visual genius, but how he created this plot and screenplay is beyond me! There's so much amazingness to this movie, I don't even know where to start.

Like I said, Nolan (with the help of Paul Franklin) is a visual genius. The sets and visual effects in this movie are insane. If this doesn't win the Oscar for Visual Effects I will shave my eyebrows off! 

 CREDIT

The cast is unbelievable! Obviously, Leonardo DiCaprio is astonishing! He's joined by Marion Cotillard (who I love, La vie en rose, anyone???), Joseph Gordon-Levitt (he's come a long way from 3rd Rock from the Sun), Ellen Page (who doesn't love Juno?) and more amazing co-stars.

I do have just one small complaint and I hate myself for even saying it. I thought this character of Leo's was very similar to his Shutter Island character. Leo is amazing at playing the tormented man forced to make some kind of life choice (The Departed, Blood Diamond, Shutter Island and now this). I'm in no way saying he always plays the same character, I'm just saying these last two have a lot of similarities. Leonardo DiCaprio is without a doubt the best actor of our generation, and I'm not just saying that because I want to have his babies. If my dream of him winning an Oscar is going to come true he's going to need to find a role to really push himself out of his comfort zone. He's done it in the past and received nominations (What's Eating Gilbert Grape, The Aviator, and Blood Diamond....I'm still not over the Titanic snub), so I know he can do it again....but this next time let's go for the win! Thanks honey!

Ooh, Ooh! ADDITION: I was just perusing IMDb and found that Leo's next project (expected to begin production later this year) is a biography on J Edgar Hoover, the FBI director who had a "scandalous career and a controversial private life as a homosexual and rumored cross dresser" and the film is directed by Clint Eastwood! NOW WE'RE TALKING!!!!

It would take me days to try and type the plot and synopsis of this movie and I wouldn't want to ruin anything for those of you who haven't seen it. BUT, if you have seen it check out this First Showing Blog which is filled with articles and discussions regarding different theories on the movie! I've been reading these all morning and brain is going in circles trying to figure this all out.

I also have to give a quick shout out to Little Sushi in Eden Prairie where J and I stopped for dinner before the movie! The egg drop soup and California Roll were sooooo yummy!!! If you live in the area, go check them out. It's just a tiny little place but the guys behind the sushi bar are awesome and the food (especially the sushi) is great!

And one final thing. I have to wish a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to one of my best, craziest and most fun friends, Miss Sarah! We have been through so much together and college just would not have been nearly as fun without her! Happy Birthday woman! I love you!!!

Have a GREAT weekend Blog Friends!