the pod bay door

:: This morning, while at dim sum at New Tan Tan, the lights went out. A power failure happened somewhere in the downtown area, perhaps due to the high winds. The staff passed out candles, and also had to deal with the tropical fish tank, which began leaking for some reason, after the power failure.

:: This weekend, I saw Ocean’s Twelve, and Kinsey. Both enjoyable for different reasons, although in discussion with Taras this afternoon, I had to agree that Ocean’s Twelve falls apart in the last 20 minutes. Kinsey contains a set of remarkable performances from a cadre of actors, and also has perhaps the funniest scene in any film I’ve watched this year, including Team America: World Police, which had me howling throughout the picture. I saw Kinsey with my friend Marissa, at the same theatre we saw The Machinist a week earlier. It was déjà vu all over again.

:: For me, the Christmas season brings mixed blessings. I cannot go into details here, but I take great comfort knowing that I have the support and friendship of family and friends who care. In the end, what more can anyone ask at Christmas?

I had planned to be off work from December 18-January 3, but will head in tomorrow to try to clean out my inbox, and finish some paperwork.

:: Last evening my right eye was hurting, feeling like a small foreign object of some sort was under the lid and wouldn’t leave. This morning at the U Health Centre, the doctor confirmed that the cornea has a small scratch right under the pupil. It is quite annoying, so I’m home to rest for the afternoon. I’ve got eye drops, and will pick up some ointment later in the day. Hopefully this will heal quickly.

:: (Warning: use your popup blocker before looking at this clip) – Listen and learn that: the worst Americans move to Canada; we are lucky the US allows my country to share the same continent with it; only Western Canada matters (right wingers, cowboys, and ski areas here); we don’t need an army; without the US, Canada is essentially Honduras, but colder and more boring; Norway would invade my country if it wasn’t for our American neighbours – oops – neighbors; that the US doesn’t need Canada (we’re only the States’ largest trading partner on the planet); and finally, Canadians with ambition move to the United States. Gosh, the things I didn’t know. Ann Coulter and Tucker Carlson need to sit down and shut the f*ck up.

I’ll leave the last word to Steely Dan: “That right-wing hooey sure stunk up the joint.”

:: Hey, the Geminids are tonight, and promise to be spectacular. Don’t know if I’ll have the energy to check them out, I am SO tired tonight.

:: Earlier this evening, I broke bread with four fellow co-workers of Hungarian descent at a warm, friendly little Hungarian restaurant in north-west Edmonton called The Goulash. My dad’s parents were Hungarian, and came to North America in the 1920s, settling in Winnipeg. Dinner was paprikás csirke with gnocchi, followed by a slice of Dobos torte for dessert, perhaps the most amazing, multi-layer chocolate cake with a hard carmel icing , and it was the best meal I’ve had in months. The food tasted just like the dishes my Grandma Reichardt made when we were little, which means it tasted home cooked, not like restaurant food. God Bless the cook(s)!

:: The Hollywood Foreign Press Association has announced its 2005 Golden Globe nominations. Leading the pack are Sideways with 7, The Aviator with 6, and three films with 5 nominations: Closer, Finding Neverland, and Million Dollar Baby. Overlooked in the Emmy Awards, Deadwood is nominated for Best Television Series – Drama, and Ian McShane is nominated for Best Performance by an Actor In A Television Series – Drama; he should be a lock in this category. The big winner in nominations is Jamie Foxx, with three acting nods for Ray, Collateral, and Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams Story. What’s odd is that his nomination for Ray is in the category Best Performance by an Actor in Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy. There was music in Ray, of course, but the movie wasn’t a musical. That said, the criteria for that category must be, well, very liberal (or bizarre), because the other nominees include Jim Carrey for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Paul Giamatti for Sideways, two films I would call dramas rather than comedies.

:: Other awards have been announced, and Sideways is on a roll. Six The San Francisco Film Critics Circle awards went to Sideways. Sideways also took (at least) three of the NY Film Critics Circle Awards – not all have been announced as of this posting, with live voting still in progress. Sideways (surprise!) won Best Picture from the Boston Film Critics. The American Film Institute announced its official selections for Movies of the Year and TV Programs of the Year. The British Independent Film Awards saw Vera Drake sweep the awards for Actress, Actor, Supporting Actor/Actress, Film and Director.

Complete awards information is available at The Awards Scoreboard at Movie City News, with even more information available at Awards Watch 2005.

It’s a fun time of the year to get caught up in analysis of the movie industry if you are a film addict like me. A good read is William Goldman’s annual Oscar column from the Dec 12, 2004 issue of Variety.

Missing from all the lists – The Passion of the Christ.

:: On Wednesday, I invoked closure on the book chapter, which at the moment clocks in at just under 12,000 words. Perhaps I’ll add another line just to make it to that magic number. I sent the chapter to the editor at Penn State, and am going to spend the next six working days trying to clear some of my desk. I plowed through work e-mails today, reducing the inbox number from 175 to under 90.

:: I saw Sideways tonight. With Closer last week, I’ve seen two movies back-to-back featuring four central characters each, two men and two women, in relationship dramas, but decidedly different in tone, presentation and outcome. I enjoyed Sideways more than Closer, perhaps because the characters were considerably more likeable, although I found Thomas Haden Church’s character, Jack, to be loathsome. I won’t reveal why, should you decide to see the movie, which won a Top Ten Film Award for 2004 from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures. Haden Church received the NBR Award for Best Supporting Actor. The cast of Closer, meanwhile, won the award for Best Acting by an Ensemble.

Sideways also won the Gotham Award for Best Feature. Awards Season is officially underway. This time of year, it is much fun to read David Poland’s 20 Weeks to Oscar, with only twelve weeks to go. Also of interest are Poland’s various charts, with information on “This Week’s Frontrunner” for Best Picture, Director, Actor/Supporting Actor, Actress/Supporting Actress, and Screenplay/Adapted Screenplay. His analyses are not limited to potential Oscar winners, but also to the Golden Globes.