What?  It’s too late for Oscar buzz?  Too bad.  That’s what I’ve got for today so you’re just gonna have to deal with it.

I didn’t post yesterday but I figured I had earned a good day off anyhow.  Anyhow, isn’t Sunday the day you rest?  That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it.

In our grand old tradition, we watched the Academy Awards last night, from Ryan Seacrest’s red carpet show on E! to Hugh Jackman’s fond adieu at the end of the broadcast (we had to turn off Barbara Walters’ show because, seriously?  Jonas Brothers?  I DON’T THINK SO.).   A good time was had by all.  Sure, there were dull spots.  There always are.  And sure, there was a moment a little more than halfway through the thing where I got supremely sick of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” and “Slumdog Millionaire” being called out as the winners.  But on the other hand, I haven’t seen either movie so for all I know, they were very deserving of their honors.  But dang it, why couldn’t “Iron-Man” or “The Dark Knight” won for Visual Effects?? I mean, at least I SAW those!

Still, despite the fact I’d seen probably a grand total of three movies that were nominated (wait, correction, make that four.  I did see “Kung Fu Panda”), I enjoyed the whole thing and as is my nature, I have some observations to share with you all.

• Robert Pattinson.  *drool*  He was there and he brought his hair.  And his eyes.  And, you know, the rest of him.  *dreamy sigh*
• Hugh Jackman made a awesome host.  I was convinced of this a mere 10 minutes into the show after watching his truly fabulous opening number.  As Kile said, it rivaled Billy Crystal’s infamous montages.  That’s saying a lot.  He had great energy.
• The new format with the old actor winners bestowing the new nominees with praise and advice?  LOVE.  That was awesome and I’m sure it meant a lot to the nominees to hear it.  I hope they do that again.
• Heath Ledger.  I don’t think there was a dry eye in the house when he won Best Supporting Actor.  I know I was a freakin’ mess.  Shoot, even BRAD PITT had tears in his eyes.  By far, the most beautiful, sad and meaningful moment of the entire awards show.
• That said, the “In Memorium” montage was also very beautiful and sad this year.  Queen Latifah singing “I’ll Be Seeing You” literally gave me goosebumps (still does, in fact). And being reminded of all the wonderful talent we lost this last year pretty much kicked my ass.  Damn you, Bernie Mac!
• SO glad that Kate got the award, even if I didn’t see the movie.  I’ve been a big fan since “Titanic”.
• During the Best Actor presentation, whenever they would show Mickey Rourke, I couldn’t help but stare at Robert Pattinson sitting behind him.  Humina.
• Surprised that Sean Penn won but not too much.  You gotta love the guy, prickly as he is.
• Aaaaand “Slumdog” wins.  Big surprise.

We had to watch “The Dark Knight” afterward because I was still on a Heath Ledger high.  Better than the Jonas Brothers, that’s for sure.

So did you watch?  What were your thoughts?  And why did I write most of this post this morning and then totally forget to finish and post it?  Am I that lame?  (Don’t answer that.)

I got email from my dear friend Michelle last night that she sent to my friend and I.  She was having a hard time sleeping and had thought up how we were six degrees of seperation away from Kevin Bacon.  And not just once but TWICE.  That, my friends, is pretty freakin’ awesome.  I’ve always wanted to play this little game but… meh.  It seemed like a lot of work and brain power and I really feel like doing or having either of those things.  But thanks to Michelle, I don’t have to.  So here’s the first run-down:

• We are friends with Angela, whom we have known since high school.  Lurves Angela!
• Angela met Sean Astin (she got his book signed and a picture taken with him for her Christmas card that year.)
• He was in the “Lord of the Rings” movies with Cate Blanchet
• She is in that new movie with Brad Pitt (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, fyi Michelle)
• Brad Pitt was in “Interview with a Vampire” with Tom Cruise
• Tom Cruise was in “A Few Good Men” with… Kevin Bacon.

Dang but that’s fun.  But that’s not all!  Here’s another one:

• We were taught by Ms. Ray in high school (she was my favorite teacher!)
• Ms. Ray’s cousin (maybe 2nd cousin) was married to Tom Selleck  (I remember when she called him Cousin Tom and was very impressed) (I was too, Michelle)
• Tom Selleck was on “Friends” with Courtney Cox (He was “Richard”, remember??  I loved the scene where he and Ross were waiting impatiently for Monica and Rachel to fight over the last remaining condom in the apartment)
• Courtney Cox was in the “Scream” movies with Neve Campbell
  Neve Campbell was in “Wild Things” (Naaaaaasty movie) with… Kevin Bacon.

So tell me.  How are you seperated from Kevin Bacon?  Do you have the brain-power to do one of these?  If so, you gotta share with the class.

photo credit: John Griffiths

I have to get something up to move that last post down the page.  I’m glad I got it off my chest, because I found that my head and heart were much clearer for it last night.  But on the other hand, I do feel some shame having put that out there.  And, for the record, there WILL be milk and bread.  Kile always has a plan, even if I don’t.  And I don’t generally ask about his plan, in an effort to reduce my own stress.  Sometimes, however, it just happens to be a little counterintuitive. Heh.

So… this morning we’re going to go over my favorite moments from my favorite Christmas movies.  Or rather, my favorite moments that I could find on YouTube.  So sit back, relax and partake of the Yuletide Joy that these scenes invoke.

Christmas Vacation

This movie is the grand-daddy of all the Christmas movies in my book.  I may be able to make it through a Christmas without watching “It’s a Wonderful Life”, but in my opinion it’s not Christmas if I haven’t watched “Christmas Vacation”.  And I’m just APPALLED that so many of you didn’t guess my “Christmas Vacation” quote on that quote list a couple weeks ago.  What the heck, people??

Of course, you have to include Clark’s rant about his boss cutting bonuses in favor of a Jelly of the Month Club.

This one is also classic.  “Blousing… browsing, smelling…. smiling…”  We quote this ALL THE TIME. It doesn’t even have to be Christmas.

Alas, I couldn’t find a clip on YouTube (and I will admit, I didn’t look too hard) that had the whole “Don’t throw me down, Clark” thing in it but OH WELL.

A Christmas Story

This movie pretty much speaks for itself.  And thanks to TBS and their 24-hour marathon each Christmas, everyone and their dog can pretty much recite it from memory.

You pretty much can’t talk about scenes from this movie without including this clip.  Poor Flik.  If you start paying attention, he really gets the shaft in this movie.

I would have loved to have included some more clips here, but I couldn’t find them (particularly the one where the Bumpus hounds get ahold of the turkey.)  And I didn’t particularly feel like including the leg lamp scene since that is just SO CLICHE.  Whatever.

Elf

This is a new classic but it doesn’t make it any less classic, you know?  I mean, COME ON.  Will Ferrell thinks he’s an elf.  When does that not get funny?

Besides the fact that Kile and I love to duet this song, this scene is just so funny.

“I just like to smile, smiling’s my favorite.”

Buddy meets his first “fake” Santa.  It doesn’t end well.

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

I know a lot of you probably think it’s grand heresy to include this version of such a classic story, but I have to admit: I enjoy Jim Carrey.  And this version never fails to bring a smile to my face.

Probably my favorite scene in the whole movie.  I just love him trying to freak her out.

I love the bit with the dog towards the end.  It is SO TRUE.  Dogs always find that boundary and then fling themselves over it, don’t they?

It’s a Wonderful Life

Yeah, there are some GREAT scenes in this one and to single out just a few is pretty hard.  And I’ll be darned if it’s all but impossible to find any of my favorites on YouTube!  Sacrelige!  How about when George steps on the belt to Mary’s robe and she hides in the hydrangea bush and he threatens to sell tickets?  That’s just AWESOME.  Then there’s George’s rant to Mary about the stupid house and why do they have all these kids.  That wasn’t on YouTube either.  Gosh.  Well, you’ll just have to imagine them in your mind.  Luckily, this is another “recite it from memory” movie and you shouldn’t have any problem.

Okay… I gotta go get on with my life here.  Harry’s clothes aren’t going to wash themselves (though, boy howdy, I sure wish they would because YIKES) and I need to get a few things done while Evie is napping.  But in the comments, I want to hear about YOUR favorite Christmas movies and what YOUR favorite scenes are.  Share! (Tis the season, and all.)

I got to see “Twilight” last night!  No thanks to my loving husband.  My dear mother in law offered to go see it with me.  And it was so exciting to get to go see it on the opening day.  I didn’t even know what to expect, actually.  I was almost afraid to get my hopes up too much.  I know how hard it is to fullfill fan expectations in book-to-movie situations such as this.  I didn’t want to get my hopes up too much.  But I also didn’t want to be stubborn and dampen any thrill of actually seeing the movie either.  So I felt oddly keyed up, sitting in the theater, waiting for the movie to begin. 

There was a good crowd there, a lot of pre-teen girls, quite a few 30-something women.  But there were men too.  Most likely dragged by their significant others.  But they didn’t have a long-suffering look to them, so one can only figure that they weren’t entirely opposed to seeing it (unlike some people I know).  everyone was feeling rather festive.  There were a lot of smiles.  The line waiting to go into the theater was long, but orderly and the crowd wasn’t actually that obnoxious.  I was pretty pleased.  

The Harry Potter trailer?  Awesome.  Of course.  I’m still annoyed that it’s been moved to July, but it looks as though it will be worth the wait.  And hey, at least now we can go see it in the drive-in.  Bonus!

Okay, so here’s what I thought of the movie.  I’m going to put it behind a “more” tag, so if you haven’t seen it and don’t want to know, don’t click through.  Mmkay?  

I know this means I’m Officially Lame, but I’m watching Disney’s “Meet the Robinsons” with Liam and I’m finding myself laughing.  A lot.  This is a cute, funny movie!  Very clever.  Hey, if it’s not brain-melting drivel like “Oswald” (my old nemesis), and it makes my kids happy, then I pretty much want to marry it and have it’s babies. 

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Evie slept in her crib on Saturday night.  As in, I laid her down in there around 8pm and she didn’t wake up until almost 5am.  (!!)  And even then, it wasn’t as if she woke up squalling and freaking out.  It was more of a “fuss”.  But I missed her so badly by that point and had slept so fitfully without her right there next to me, that I hopped up and ran to grab her. Heh. 

We tried it again last night, but shortly after we went to bed I heard her fuss.  I had JUST drowsed off so I was feeling loopy and I went to get her.  I didn’t realize until I got into her room and touched her belly that she had fallen back asleep.  (*cringe*)  Of course, touching her woke her up and she proceeded to freak the frack out so back to bed with us she went.  Ah well.  Live and learn. 

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We really enjoy “True Blood” and “Entourage” on HBO on Sunday nights.  We missed BOTH last week when we were in Elko, which is a big ol’ bummer.  But last night was awesome.  And I’m so sad that both are ending their season after, like, NEXT WEEK.  What the heck am I going to watch THEN?  BOO!  What the freak is it with these tiny, itty, bitty television seasons??  And how many months until “Lost” comes back, anyhow?? 

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Mondays kinda suck, don’t they?  I need more caffeine.