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February 25, 2007
The Year of The Departed & others...
This was an interesting Oscar show. I got a bit sick of the interpretive dancers. The video montages seemed to have nothing to do with the show, other than trying to keep the home viewer's attention. Everyone knew they had to keep their speeches short, but most still brought up scripts. The best speech was from Forrest Whitaker - after botching up every other thank you, he made a real impact with his Oscar time.
Intriguing that Alan Arkin won over Eddie Murphy. I really think Norbit added to his problems - Arkin is an actor's actor and Murphy is a business man's actor. (Ca-ching for all the crap he does.)
Unfortunately, this was another Year of the Man. Women were shut out in most categories. Exceptions being Heather Mirren, Jennifer Hudson (dare I say there was that much acting in her performance?), and Melissa Ethridge. True, the Costume Design winner was also female, but I hate anything associated with Sophia Coppola, so I'm not counting that. (For me, Sophia is the kind of hipster I despise - hipper than thou, boring, and superior. Her mashup of Music She Loves and "poetic" film-making makes me gag.)
Congrats to the winners.
And in best dressed award goes to Nicole Kidman for her stunning red dress. Runners up include Cate Blanchett in her snazzy couture, Reese Witherspoon in her deep purple gown, Penelope Cruz in her never-ending frock & Helen Mirren. Cameron Diaz gets a nod for worst hair.
Terrible dressers include: Anne Hathaway, Beyonce-I-Wanna-Be-A-Mermaid-Knowles, and Gweneth-I-Think-Everything-Old-Is-Cool-Paltrow.
My favorite entry in the E! Online photo gallery: David Craig & date. Apparently, if you're not famous or you're not married to the famous, you don't warrant having your name appear under your picture. I'm also amused that Marty's subtitle listed his wife's name, but said the other two women were simply "guests." I'm gonna take a stab in the dark and suggest that Scorcese brought his kids along for the ride.
Eva Green gets a double award - horrid dress and vampiric (not in a good way) makeup. For those who like me couldn't recognize the actress behind the macabre styling, she's the newest Bond girl.
That's all folks. G'night from La-La Land.
Posted by cj at 09:16 PM | Comments (0)
February 21, 2007
Tales from My Office Cubicle
I just returned to work, after two weeks off recuperating from surgery. At first, I was angry at what happened to me at lunch - I thought someone was out to get me. Then I realized I was being paranoid, and I wrote an email about the incident. Who'd a thunk that a few lines of wittiness would make me Ms. Popular with the work crowd?
Here's my email:
Sent: Wednesday, February 21, 2007 1:32 PM
To: status
Subject: Thank you for eating my lunch
Thank you to whomever opened my leftover container of chicken and pasta and ate the chicken. Though my name could not have fallen off the container since it was written in permanent ink on the cover, I appreciate your concern for my protein intake.
In the future, kindly allow me to make my own gastric decisions.
Sincerely,
C.J.
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in related office news, I somehow forgot about the Terry Tate: Office Linebacker advert series. Below is a montage...not the best you can find on YouTube, but it includes a relevant scene (at the end)...
Posted by cj at 08:58 PM | Comments (0)
February 08, 2007
JCPenney Does High Fashion and other notes from the Thursday Papers
Instead of sleeping (I did that for twelve hours last night) or reading a book or watching t.v. (the damn thing is on the fritz), I've been reading the Wall Street Journal and the LA Times.
According to the WSJ, JCPenney is hiring tons of designers to help them compete in the world of "fast fashion" (aka throw away clothes that tear apart within a season). The head of JCP design has determined that "turtlenecks are the IT item for Fall 07." TURTLENECKS! TURTLENECKS! Look - the hipsters in Tokyo are wearing them, it must be so! Maybe I'm a bit biased - hell the rest of you don't have a painful scar on your neck - but I've always had problems with the claustrophobic nashing of turtleneck material against my neck. I love scarves - you can adjust how tight they are around your neck - but a turtleneck imposes itself without variance and (in my opinion) increases the sweat factor.
In other perspiration news, the style gurus at WSJ have determined that it is ok for men to wear polos without undershirts. "Wifebeaters" are the least popular style for those who choose to wear them. Crew necks (circular neck lines) are the most popular.
The WSJ book reviewer didn't really like Monkey Girl. She also didn't like the political persuasion of the book's author - he conflated it with all the evils of the religious right and the reviewer cried foul.
The LA Times reports that Murdoch's media conglomerate is making a killing with its MySpace acquisition, films, and Fox TV station. On the other hand, the English-language telenovela-filled MyNetwork TV channel is sucking major wind.
Some old geezer real estate mogul in Chi-town is making a bid for the Trib company.
This Just In: Anna Nicole Smith dropped dead today.
Posted by cj at 03:24 PM | Comments (1)
February 04, 2007
Designer Dogs
The cover story in the NYT Magazine is designer dogs. It really doesn't offer any new info. But it's kinda intriguing - how you can't really know that breeding two purebreds will get you the best attributes of both breeds, you could end up with the worst aspects of both breeds.
And owning a Bagel sounds cuter than what the dog actually looks like (it's a combo Basset hound and Beagle).
I still want a dog. Looks like I wont get one till I move out.
And in case you're wondering, I look like the bride of Frankenstein - there's a lovely scar across my neck and a piece of surgical thread hanging out of it.
"The Modern Kennel Conundrum," by Jon Mooallem in today's NYT.
Posted by cj at 02:21 PM | Comments (1)
February 02, 2007
Surgery in Six Hours
I go to the hospital in four hours.
My neck will be cut open in six hours.
I will lose my thyroid and a nerve to my vocal box sometime after that.
So, in the near future I will no longer be able to sing high notes.
Farewell, C.J. the soprano.
The following snippets from a song I wrote a long time ago about a different situation explain how I'm feeling right now:
I am all alone in this world.Don't worry - if you're reading this, chances are, you're not the person who hurt me. At least I'm now fully ready to move on with a healthy, thyroid-free life.
I am all alone.
I reach out to you, but you turn away.
Posted by cj at 02:08 AM | Comments (0)
Geek Critique of Social Networking
I read this entire article about social networks before realizing that its an ad for a new social network.
Apparently, Shuzak is tryin to be the social networks for geeks - leveraging peer to group activity rather than peer to peer. It got its name from its founder, Jawad Shuaib, the writer of the aforementioned article.
At least he gets marketing - I clicked onto his social networking site because I liked his graphic ad at the bottom of his article - thought it was amusing.
Posted by cj at 02:01 AM | Comments (0)
February 01, 2007
Don't Copy That Floppy!
tip o the hat to aardvark and his link to the deplorable word. This video is a classic from 1992.
Posted by cj at 08:40 PM | Comments (0)