Rebel Prince

Thank you all for playing our little contest! I had lots of fun, and hope you did too. Ha, I’m exhausted. Tomorrow I’ll post the winners announcement and we can gab about our favorite moments, but for now, here’s the voting tally.

I received a total of 18 ballots (including me, though, of course I am ineligible to win a prize; I tied for second place, thank you very much). Here are the results, with the actual awardees marked. The widest majorities went to Chicago and to Nicole Kidman, and the votes were most divided in the supporting acting categories. (Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.) Check it out.

Category             Votes  Percent

Picture
Chicago                 11    61.11
The Hours                3    16.67
The Pianist              2    11.11
Gangs of New York        1     5.56
Lord of the Rings        1     5.56

Director
Martin Scorsese          9    50.00
Rob Marshall             5    27.78
Stephen Daldry           3    16.67
Roman Polanski           1     5.56
Pedro Almodóvar          0     0.00

Actor
Daniel Day-Lewis         8    44.44
Adrien Brody             5    27.78
Jack Nicholson           3    16.67
Nicolas Cage             2    11.11
Michael Caine            0     0.00

Actress
Nicole Kidman           11    61.11
Renée Zellweger          5    27.78
Salma Hayek              1     5.56
Julianne Moore           1     5.56
Diane Lane               0     0.00

Supporting Actor
Chris Cooper             6    33.33
Ed Harris                6    33.33
Christopher Walken       3    16.67
Paul Newman              2    11.11
John C. Reilly           1     5.56

Supporting Actress
Catherine Zeta-Jones     7    38.89
Julianne Moore           5    27.78
Kathy Bates              3    16.67
Meryl Streep             2    11.11
Queen Latifah            1     5.56

Original Screenplay (tie-breaker)
My Big Fat Greek Wedding 7    38.89
Far from Heaven          5    29.41
Gangs of New York        3    17.65
Talk to Her              2    11.11
Y Tu Mamá También        1     5.56

Yes, I revisioned the website again. It’s spring, so pourquoi pas? This lovely blue is #336699, and the art this time is Monet’s Bridge at Argenteuil (1874), one of my favorites. Now that the website is all dressed up, I need to do something about my own wardrobe. I’ll get on it next weekend.

Quick takes. Adaptation: very good. Quick, clever. Like one reviewer put it, it’s like a series of Russian dolls that fit one inside the other: a movie about a movie about an adaptation of a book expanded from an article. I don’t think Nicolas Cage will win the Oscar, given the competition, but still, an honest performance. Road to Perdition: a beautiful movie, but I just couldn’t get into it. At least not until late in the movie. And I don’t mean to detract from Paul Newman’s earlier work (because, well, I haven’t seen any of them), but his performance here was just okay. Not especially Oscar-worthy, I thought. An interesting thing about the DVD: director Sam Mendes’ very good commentary (as expected, given his great insights on the American Beauty DVD) is subtitled here, so you can watch the movie while reading his comments. Usually on a second viewing of DVDs, I listen to the commentary while reading the subtitled dialogue for reference, but here you can do the opposite, if your brain works that way. (Or it can all just be a bit distracting.)

By the way, I saw the trailers for Bend It Like Beckham and A Mighty Wind, the latest from Christopher Guest (Best in Show, Waiting for Guffman). Both look really good. In other news, why is someone making a live-action movie of The Jetsons? I don’t have anything against the space-age cartoon series—I watched it everyday as a kid—but didn’t anyone learn anything from the recent beloved cartoon-turned-movie dreck Scooby Doo? Granted, I’m not in the target audience demographic, and I never saw the whole thing, but I tried. Twice. Both times were on planes, and it was enough to make me glance at the emergency exit more than once. (Sorry, that was a cheap shot. I couldn’t resist.)

‘I’d like to thank the Academy…’ There’s a great piece in this week’s New Yorker called “My Oscar Speech,” or “notes on what to say if I win the Oscar pool tonight at Chris and Linda’s.” Check it out. It starts:

Thank Chris and Linda for the lovely spread. Say something like “Seriously, I would’ve thought the apple tart was from Balthazar—it was so flaky!”

Then remark on what a surprise this has all been, and how, when you lost best supporting actress so early in the night, you thought you were done for. (If you got that one, i.e., if Meryl Streep wins, pick a category you lost, like animated short film. Maybe say, “What was I thinking, going with Mt. Head over The Chubbchubbs!?”)

So, this inspires me: I’m adding a proviso to my Oscar contest. Each of the winners has to write an acceptance speech. Make it short and sweet, or else I’ll have the orchestra play you off. And the word “Iraq” or phrases “troubled times” or “recent events” may be used only once, if at all.

Less than 24 hours remain ’til showtime, so if you haven’t entered already, do it now!

I was IM-ing briefly with Anna today about her school’s production of Bye Bye Birdie, which opens Thursday—she plays Rosie—and about how when I was in the seventh grade, my school put on the show, and I played Albert, Rosie’s love interest. By my calculation, that was in the spring of 1990, launching my theater obsession. (My mom would say “tawag ng tanghalan” or “call of the stage,” which was also the name of a Philippine talent show.) But yeah, 1990 was thirteen years ago. Good lord.

We’re in the home stretch leading to the Oscars, so get your votes in now. After work today I went to see The Pianist. I hate to fall into hackneyed movie-review language, but really this movie was spellbinding. It moves at a stately pace but doesn’t drag, and the scope of the movie is personal enough that it makes something as large as war so real and engaging. (Speaking of war, the movie includes much shocking, random violence. Not totally gratuitous, it makes the point.) And there are scenes, especially when Wladyslaw Szpilman (Adrien Brody) goes into hiding, where so much is said with so few words or none at all. Very well-deserved nominations for Roman Polanski and Mr. Brody, who carries the film so well.

Lighting the world. Check out pictures from last week’s candlelight vigils, courtesy of contributors to MoveOn.org’s international photo collection.

One ringy-dingy… Earlier today the phone rings. Caller ID tells me it’s 212.247.7800. Being the freak that I am, I let the phone ring, and go to Google. With a phone number ending in a generically round number, it’s likely to be a business. It is. Carnegie Hall. All of a sudden, I become unjustifiably skittish. Ooh, Carnegie Hall wants me! But then I realize it’s the box office number. I’m on their customer list. Duh. Yeah, it’s marketing, but any kind of arts communication makes me feel a little special, in a leisurely kind of way, as if yes, at a moment’s notice I can zip up to New York for a recital, sure.

Okay, have a great weekend, folks. I’ll be catching up on more nominated movies and performances. Gangs of New York and Frida at the theaters, and on DVD: My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Road to Perdition, and Unfaithful.

It’s been raining all day. I like it. The Weather Channel forecast for D.C. gives today’s both high and low temperature at 47°F. How’s that for consistent? But tomorrow, the first full day of spring, it’s supposed to get up to 71°. Crazy.

‘I am away from my computer right now.’ Must be a slow news day at the Times, at least for tech. There’s a whole article on away messages on instant-messaging systems and their proliferation on college campuses. That said, y’all are always free to AIM me. I have a dial-up connection, though, which may explain why I have little use for my away messages. When I’m online, I’m usually in front of the computer; otherwise I’m just tying up the phone line. Ah, indulge me a moment while I reminisce over the heady days of the late 1990s when I had both cable TV and ethernet.

‘Cause everything is rent.’ I just got an e-mail about an open house for a new apartment building three blocks away. I should delete it right now. The rents are outrageous. I wouldn’t characterize this as outright gentrification, but it’s something close. All around me, luxury housing is springing up. At the Post Massachusetts Avenue, down my street and around the corner, a typically gorgeous studio goes for about 50% more per square foot (I use rates because the total size is not comparable) than what I pay at my modest, bare-bones place. That might not sound like much, but to speak in absolutes, monthly rent at the Post is upwards of $1340. New Yorkers, I’m sure, are not batting so much as an eye.

Think outside the closet. I’m lucky to live where I do (location is everything, right?), and my rent is pretty good, since the apartment is tiny, even for a studio. I just need to be creative with furniture, and neat about clothing storage. Speaking of closets, last night I read about a Manhattan service called Garde Robe, for people looking to outsource their closet space. First you weed your closet of items you want to put in storage. They photograph and catalog them, and keep your wardrobe at their secure, temperature-controlled loft, with all your clothing viewable online and available to you 24 hours a day, delivered to you whenever and wherever you need it with just a phone call. Cool. You can be all, “I need my Manolos! Meet me at the Plaza!” Their sample closet is fun, if a bit over the top: among the many fabulous pieces, the black-tie section boasts a Vera Wang, and almost all the accessories are Valentino. Nice. (Link found at kottke.org.)

Then again, I could think outside the closet, as it were, and put up clothing racks and shelves in the main area of my studio, which would make the entire apartment a walk-in closet/fitting room. Clothing as interior-design accessory? Not a bad idea.

And the beat goes on. My only comment today on the war: it sure is doing well for the stock market, which I suppose I’m happy about, for the moment. Oh, and would CNN.com please tone down their 48-pixel-high, all-caps headlines? Reminds me of that one Onion front page where the headline is the single word “WAR,” but it’s so large it has to be hyphenated and continues on the next line. “WA-R.” Ha. (Cool points to anyone who can find me a jpeg or PDF of that. I’ve looked.)

I called my dad earlier tonight, and the first thing he said was, “Are you watching the news?” I realized I hadn’t turned on the TV since I arrived home. You don’t need me to tell you, but yes, the war has begun.

Gee, I was hoping to finally watch My Big Fat Greek Wedding (it arrived from Netflix today), but no, there’s a war on. I’ve seen enough. I can now turn off the news. That’s the thing about TV news. It seems like after the big story has been delivered, you start to experience diminished utility for every additional minute you watch. The broadcasters have all that extra airtime, which they fill by replaying the same video clip, parading experts with the same old arguments, and continually re-capping the situation “if you’re just tuning in.”

Then again, I suppose breaking news isn’t meant to be watched as if it were a scripted drama with deliberate, well-timed plot points, as if the static, live video of the blue Baghdad sky were just an empty stage waiting for a few missiles that missed their cue. Isn’t there a danger in that—watching the news, waiting for something to happen?

Please stand clear of the doors. I’ve listed Rebel Prince on the very cool D.C. Metro Blog Map, which, as you might guess, lists blogs in the D.C. area according locations on the metro map. Check it out. My station is Dupont Circle, on the red line.

Shifting preferences. Musicwise I’ve been in a jazz phase for a long while now. But just in the past few days, I’ve found myself completely drawn back to classical music: listening to the classical radio station, rediscovering my long-neglected vocal and symphonic CDs. During college I was really into Mozart vocal music, especially the operas. This time around I want to start getting into some solo instrumental works, like violin and guitar. To be honest, the sound of violin used to grate on my senses, but I’m acquiring a taste for it.

Tonight I went to the Lincoln Memorial for the peace vigil. It was an evening of beautiful, powerful words and music. And the sight of hundreds of people, a sea of candlelight, was amazing.

Candlelight vigil for peace (0:24)

I’ve never seen the movie in its entirety, but is this the place to start?

Willy Wonka y su fábrica de chocolate (0:50)

Ah yes, unleashing the candyland mind-trip on a whole new generation. And tonight, Juegos de guerra, or Wargames, with a very young Matthew Broderick. Remember? Leave it to Telefutura to dub the very best, wait, no, just random American cinema.