Deep thoughts, cheap shots, and bon mots, the fifth

So just so SueLin can say “I told you so!” (poor dear so RARELY gets to say it!), I will confess that the second four episodes of “Glee” were, indeed much better. Of course, having Kristin Chenoweth on one of those said episodes helped, but also the Queen number, and the Boys vs. Girls competition, were very cool.

But that’s the good thing about just waiting and watching stuff on DVD. I can, for example, watch 3 episodes of “Lost” in a row when the cliffhangers are particularly dramatic (D’oh! That’s EVERY week!).

And “Glee” did help me “re-discover” Queen after their rendition of “Somebody to Love.” So bonus points for that—-and double bonus coz I had a mix CD of Queen with REO Speedwagon. Kewl.

So to help with my New Year’s resolution of getting out of debt, I’m taking the advice of some columnist that said to try going one solid week without spending ANY money. On the one hand, I kinda feel like, well, it shouldn’t be TOO hard, but then I have this sneaking suspicion it’s going to be a lot tougher than I initially thought.

“Killer Queen” is an awesome song, BTW.

Gotta give props to a website and a book – both I’m late to discover. The website is ruminations.com with a fabulous collection of, well, ruminations, that includes gems like:

“If you’re only going to tell me all the horrible things your boyfriend does, please don’t act offended when I call him a dick.”

“Is it just me, or are the people who claim they hate drama actually the most dramatic people I know?” (Hahaha to Kyle)

(and to balance out the props I gave earlier to SueLin) “Am I the only person who doesn’t give a shit about ‘Dancing with the Stars’?”

My second shout out goes to Bill Maher for his book, “New Rules: Polite Musings from a Timid Observer.” Yeah, it’s 5 years old, but I just got it at the Salvation Army for $2, and those that are already fans of Maher will already be snickering over the title. I’ve only made it through the Cs, so far, but here are my two faves:

Cell Lout. New Rule: Don’t call me when you’re stuck in traffic. It’s not my fault radio sucks. And did it ever occur to you that there wouldn’t be so much traffic if people like you put down the phone and concentrated on the road? Besides, I can’t talk now—I’m in the car behind you, trying to watch a DVD.

Closed-Mouth Session. New Rule: Congressional sing-alongs of “God Bless America” are the cheapest form of political pandering. We get it. You’re on our side. Now get back to work. Those lobbyists in your office aren’t going to blow themselves.

Oscars time! As much as I shriek about other “common” forms of entertainment, I still get excited over the Oscars coz I remain a major movie freak. After going through a dry patch where it seemed I saw very few of the best pic nominees before the show, I’ve been improving the past couple of years.

But with the expansion to 10 nominees, I slid a bit, I guess. I’ve seen six: Avatar, District 9, The Hurt Locker, Inglourious Basterds, Up, and Up in the Air.

Although I’m sure I would be blown away by the performances, I’m actually too scared to see “Precious” – partly due to my Pavlovian, pathologically traumatized reaction to any rape scene, and partly due to my experiences as a foster/adoptive parent. I just don’t think I could deal. I’ll probably break down and see it at some point, tho.

No desire to see “The Blind Side.” I love Sandra Bullock and football and all, but the movie just screams treacly - which means the only good thing about it is being able to use the word treacly. And I can’t imagine that, on the whole, the movie is more deserving of a nom than, say, the new Star Trek.

I’ll undoubtedly see “An Education” and “A Serious Man” on DVD, but am not expecting to be blown away or have them be any higher than my current #5.

Anyway, as much as I was blown away by Avatar, and feel it deserves art direction and cinematography awards and what not, I’d rank the six I’ve seen thusly:

#1) District 9 – partly coz I love a good sci-fi movie, but also coz I love different stuff AND stuff that has hard things to say about “hot button” issues (in this case, racism and caste systems)

#2) Tie between Avatar & Up in the Air (awesome movies in completely different ways: while Avatar provides eye candy and escapism to the max, Up in the Air has several amazing performances, a fantastic script, and interesting things to say about life today)

#4) Inglourious Basterds – while I wouldn’t say Tarantino’s “back” (seriously, what is the fascination with Kill Bill?), this is the closest he’s been since Pulp Fiction just coz it’s such horrific, crazy fun.

#5) Up - Although, seriously, I don’t understand the gushing. Is it coz we secretly feel sorry for Ed Asner? I mean, yeah, it was good/cute, but to be getting THIS much love? What is it? In the animated category, I would have it below Fantastic Mr. Fox, Coraline, AND The Princess and the Frog (no idea about this “The Secret of Kells” flick, so I’ll have to check that out).

#6) The Hurt Locker – yeah, I’ve obviously missed the boat here, as well. I didn’t find this NEARLY as riveting or well done as, say, Black Hawk Down. I even fell asleep!

What’s weird, is I caught even less of the performances this year. I’ve only seen TWO of the 10 noms for Best Actress and Best Actor, and that was George Clooney who was very, very good playing himself—but still good like Tom Cruise was playing himself in “Jerry Maguire”—and the guy in “Hurt” (zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz)

I would add, tho, that BOTH actresses nominated for supporting roles in Up in the Air were just fantastic.

Fantastic.

I think they need to have an Oscar for “Best Ensemble” – it’s hard to have a bad movie when you’ve got a collection of at least 3-5 strong performances, although—admittedly—it’s certainly easy to “overpower” an only semi-decent movie (e.g., whatever that movie Jeff Bridges “plays” drunk in).

Up in the Air would walk away with such an award this year, just as movies like All About Eve, The Big Chill, Magnolia, etc. would have in years past.

Oh, I agree!

Finally, since I’m always on Obama for being the latest Democrat to cave and abandon his promises and ideals, I do want to give him a shout out and props for at least making some effort/progress in “re-toothing” regulatory orgs like the EPA and OSHA. Much needed and appreciated, big guy!

:)