The Botticelli of the face-painting circuit

So, I'm quite the amateur artist and a friend asked me if I would do the face-painting at her kids birthday party on the weekend. I jumped at the opportunity and quickly hit up Google for some movie and pop culture related inspiration. Here is what I wanted to paint on the kids' faces:

Heath Ledger's Joker

Barry White

Kevin Rudd

A grapefruitRihanna, post Chris Brown

The Hulk

Jack Skellington

HitlerHowever, since it was a four-year-olds birthday party 20 of the 22 guests turned out like the picture below, just different colours. By some miracle I did get to do a clown on one girls face and a little boy asked for Ironman (which looked awesome, might I add).

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My musings on the Oscar nods

First of all, why the hell was The Dark Knight not nominated for best motion picture? WHY? Seriously, you can not argue that a) the dialogue is TDK is not as good, nay, better than Frost/Nixon b) the special effects and acting is not 1000 times better and more concise than all of the other nominees put together and c) TDK  in story, direction, production, editing and execution is not a more worthy nominee than Frost/Nixon, The Reader and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I understand the Academy has a tendency to neglect the obvious brilliance of films in the action adventure category but how can they honestly justify not including TDK (as a nominee at the very least)? It is a masterpiece, pure and simple. The worlds most respected and experienced film critics have all agreed on this point so why the mongoloids at the Academy couldn't take their dick out of their hands and acknowledge the same fact is beyond me. For imagery purposes only, if there was a movie heavyweight title The Curious Case of Benjamin Button would be Woody Allen and TDK would be Muhammad Ali and, naturally, it would beat that bitch into a coma. Sigh. Moving on from my original frustration, I'm quite content with the rest of the nominees in the other categories. Particularly Heath Ledger and Robert Downey Jr for best supporting actor because obviously they were both amazing. I'm also particularly happy about Penelope Cruz's nomination for best supporting actress for Vicky Cristina Barcelona as her performance was UNREAL and award worthy. 

Above: Aussie lass Catherine Martin has been nominated for the best costume design Oscar for her work on Australia

I'm also happy Australia wasn't over looked like it was at the Golden Globes and got the nomination it deserved. TDK and In Bruges are some of my other favourite nominees. However, the real surprise and underdog has to be British rapper M.I.A's Oscar nomination with A.R Raham for best song written for a motion picture for `O Saya' which they wrote and produced for Slumdog Millionaire. Wow, its been a big year for M.I.A (pictured below) whose song `Paper Planes' got an awesome boost of publicity when it was used as the theme song for Pineapple Express which in turn helped put the song at #5 on the Billboard charts even though it was released six months earlier. `Paper Planes' was nominated for a Grammy for single of the year, M.I.A had a baby with her long time boyfriend and now she has been nominated for an Oscar. Wow. I certainly hope they take it out especially because rap songs (an alternative rap song at that) rarely get nominated, let alone win in this category. 

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And the junior Oscar goes to . . . .

The Golden Globes are all but over and here's a complete list of the winners:

• Best Supporting Actress: Kate Winslet, “The Reader”
• Best Original Song: Bruce Springsteen, “The Wrestler”
• Best Supporting Actor in a Series, Miniseries or Movie: Tom Wilkinson, “John Adams”
• Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or Movie: Laura Dern, “Recount”
• Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series, Drama: Gabriel Byrne, “In Treatment”
• Best Actress in a TV Series, Drama: Anna Paquin, “True Blood”
• Outstanding Animated Feature: “WALL-E”
• Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy: Sally Hawkins, “Happy-Go-Lucky”
• Best Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: “John Adams”
• Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture: Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”
• Best Foreign Language Film: “Waltz With Bashir”
• Best Performance by an Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Laura Linney, “John Adams”
• Best Screenplay: Simon Beaufoy, “Slumdog Millionaire”
• Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy: Alec Baldwin, “30 Rock”
• Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television: Paul Giamatti, “John Adams”
• Best Television Series - Musical or Comedy: “30 Rock”
• Best Original Score, A.R. Rahman: “Slumdog Millionaire”
• Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series - Musical or Comedy: Tina Fey, “30 Rock”
• Cecil B. DeMille Award: Steven Spielberg
• Best Director - Motion Picture: Danny Boyle “Slumdog Millionaire”
• Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy: Colin Farrell, “In Bruges”
• Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy: “Vicky Cristina Barcelona”
• Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture -Drama: Kate Winslet, “Revolutionary Road”
• Best Television Series - Drama: “Mad Men”
• Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama: Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler”
• Best Motion Picture - Drama: “Slumdog Millionaire”

Thoughts? Feelings? Deepest, darkest secrets? The last part was a joke but I'm curious to know what everyone thought of the results. It was definitely a night for the underdog and suprisingly I think majority of the awards went to the right people, for once! It's good to see the Golden Globes give two awards to Kate Winslet because although she definitely deserved them, the judging panels tend to steer away from awarding the same actor twice. I must admit I'm dissapointed James Franco didn't win for Pineapple Express but Colin Farrell's performance was definitely better and I'm SO SO SO stoked he got the globe for it! And kudos to Anna Paquin, now she has another Globe to go with the others (and her Oscar) for her role in the vampire tv series True Blood, based on the cult Sookie Stockhouse novels. Get a Woody! It's nice to see what I thought was Woody Allen's return to form Vicky Cristina Barcelona getting the chops it sincerely deserves. Good on ya Woody and lets keep the good work up. But, the night was all about HEATH LEDGER and director Chris Nolan accepted the award for best supporting actor on his behalf. Lets hope this winning momentum carries through to the Oscars where Heath SHOULD win best supporting actor.

In conclusion, I don't think I can ever remember being so satisfied with the results of an awards ceremony. No doubt, I wanted Milk to pick up a few awards however Slumdog Millionaire is apparently brilliant and a worthy winner. The official Oscar nominations are being released on Tuesday, January 20 and I think it's about time The Dark Knight gets nominated for best motion picture. Just because it's an action film and not an emotional drama, that doesn't make its brilliance any less warranted. Come on Academy, give it the nod it clearly deserves.

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The Junior Oscars

I read the above term on Empire Magazine’s website and thought it was such a perfect way to describe the Golden Globes, I decided to borrow it. And yes, the Golden Globes are underway right this second in the US. No results are known yet but be sure to keep checking this site for a comprehensive list of winners in the warm-up event to the Oscars. Will Slumdog Millionaire succeed as hot favourite to take out best picture? Will Sean Penn conquer Mickey Rourke for best actor? And the question on everyone’s lips, will Heath Ledger will the posthumorous Globe he clearly deserves for best supporting actor? Only time will tell . . .

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Tis the season . . .

It’s geering up to one of my favourite times of year! No, not Christmas . ..awards season! I always look forward to finding out the nominations for the Golden Globes and Oscars despite the fact I’m nearly always disappointed with who the winners are. The Globes and Oscars mark a tradition for me-staying up late with a tasty beverage and watching the whole ceremony. I find the whole process so fascinating and like the opportunity to earmark any quality films I haven’t seen yet. The Golden Globe nominations were announced today by the always lovely Miri opps I mean Elizabeth Banks and are as follows:

BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
The Reader
Revolutionary Road
Slumdog Millionaire

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kristin Scott Thomas, I’ve Loved You So Long
Kate Winslet, Revolutionary Road

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA
Leonardio DiCaprio, Revolutionary Road
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

BEST MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Burn After Reading
Happy-Go-Lucky
In Bruges
Mamma Mia!
Vicky Cristina Barcelona

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Rebecca Hall, Vicky Christina Barcelona
Sally Hawkins, Happy-Go-Lucky
Frances McDormand, Burn After Reading
Meryl Streep, Mamma Mia!
Emma Thompson, Last Chance Harvey

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL
Javier Bardem, Vicky Christina Barcelona
Colin Farrell, In Bruges
James Franco, Pineapple Express
Brendan Gleeson, In Bruges
Dustin Hoffman, Last Chance Harvey

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
Wall-E

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany)
Everlasting Moments (Sweden/Denmark)
Gomorrah (Italy)
I’ve Loved You So Long (France)
Waltz With Bashir (Israel)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE
Amy Adams, Doubt
Penelope Cruz, Vicky Christina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler
Kate Winslet, The Reader

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A MOTION PICTURE
Tom Cruise, Tropic Thunder
Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
Ralph Fiennes, The Duchess
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight

BEST DIRECTOR – MOTION PICTURE
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
Stephen Daldry, The Reader
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Sam Mendes, Revolutionary Road

BEST SCREENPLAY – MOTION PICTURE
Simon Beaufoy, Slumdog Millionaire
David Hare, The Reader
Peter Morgan, Frost/Nixon
Eric Roth, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
John Patrick Shanley, Doubt

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE – MOTION PICTURE
Alexandre Desplat, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Clint Eastwood, Changeling
James Newton Howard, Defiance
A.R. Rahman, Slumdog Millionaire
Hans Zimmer, Frost/Nixon

BEST ORIGINAL SONG – MOTION PICTURE

a. “DOWN TO EARTH” — WALL-E
Music by: Peter Gabriel, Thomas Newman
Lyrics by: Peter Gabriel

b. “GRAN TORINO” — GRAN TORINO
Music by: Clint Eastwood, Jamie Cullum, Kyle Eastwood, Michael Stevens
Lyrics by: Kyle Eastwood, Michael Stevens

c. “I THOUGHT I LOST YOU” — BOLT
Music & Lyrics by: Miley Cyrus, Jeffrey Steele

d. “ONCE IN A LIFETIME” — CADILLAC RECORDS
Music & Lyrics by: Beyoncé Knowles, Amanda Ghost, Scott McFarnon, Ian Dench, James Dring, Jody Street

e. “THE WRESTLER” — THE WRESTLER
Music & Lyrics by: Bruce Springsteen

Thoughts? The awards committee clearly responded well to Ben Stiller’s comedy Tropic Thunder with more than a few nominations. Everyone’s eyes are on the best supporting actor category. I think it’s awesome Robert Downey Jnr was nominated for Tropic Thunder because he really was brilliant but I thought he would be starved of a nomination due to the comedic nature of the film. And Tom Cruise! His turn in said movie was also great and it’s nice to see he’s getting some recognition for it . . . even if I think he’s a tool. I thought Australia was unlucky to miss out nomination in several categories, particularly best actress for Nicole Kidman. Don't get me wrong-I'm not a Nicole Kidman fan. Yeah, I know, I'm unAustralian etc etc but she was genuinely great in Australia. I’m glad to see In Bruges has a handful of nominations as it was one of the best and underrated films of the year. But it’s all about Heath. If he doesn’t win, the awards committee (in the wise words of Homer Simpson) deserve a “glove slap”. His turn as the joker in The Dark Knight was seriously one of the best things I have EVER seen on screen. I couldn’t take my eyes off him and his performance had a lot to do with why I saw that film five times at the cinema. The fact he is no longer with us is irrelevant to the award. No other actor in any film this year (dare I say the past few decades) came close to something as brilliant as what he pulled out of his dynamite ridden bag. Heath Ledger deserves the Golden Globe for his joker. He deserves the Oscar for it too. Let’s hope his posthumourous win at the Australian Film Institue Awards over the weekend for best international performance from an Australian actor is a good indication the Globe and Oscar are on their way.
Wait a second, I almost forgot to mention my second favourite nomination.
JAMES FRANCO FOR PINEAPPLE EXPRESS! YAAAAAAAAYYYYYY! I’ve already mentioned a thousand times over this is my favourite comedy of 08 and I’m glad to see the critics have got off their high horse and slipped the nominations out to those who deserve them. If you haven’t seen Franco in this film yet then you MUST see it! NOW! GO! Freakin hilarious.

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You're the Twilight of my life . . .

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while then you may recall a post I did on how The Lovely Bones is the movie I’m most excited about for 2009. That comment stands but purely because the release of Twilight has been bumped up to November 21 to fill the void where Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was. HOORAY! REJOICE! INSERT ALL OTHER WORDS OF HAPPINESS HERE! In case you haven’t noticed Twilight is my current obsession. What is Twilight you ask??? Just the best noir romance novel ever I reply! While on holiday in North Queensland last week I purchased a copy of the book, which has been on my to-read list for a while. I loved it so much I read it in a day and a half. A week later I’ve now finished all four books in the series (New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn), which is the fastest I’ve ever read anything in my life. My final week of holiday has practically been devoted to finishing the series and nothing else. Okay, occasionally eating and sleeping but that’s it. I’ll stop blabbering about Twilight’s greatness now and explain a bit more.

The novel was written by American lass named Stephenie Meyer in 2005 and became a number one international best seller and ended up on New York Times Bestseller list. The three follow up novels have been released in the time since then with similar success. The final instalment in the Twilight saga was only released this month. I could talk for years about Twilight but the simplest run down of the story is 17-year-old Bella Swan moves to the rainy town of Forks to live with her dad Charlie and falls in love with vampire Edward Cullen who attends the same high school. What follows is an epic struggle as the two soul mates fight against the many horrific forces that threaten to drive them apart. The danger, adventures and relationships get better as the books progress so hopefully the movie is enough of a success for the other novels to be made in to films too.

Since this is one of the best books I’ve read ever I was more than a little terrified when I heard they were making Twilight in to a movie. Especially when I thought of all the ways they could stuff it up. So when I finally worked up the courage to peek at who was directing . . . . REJOICE! CATHERINE HARWICKE! If anyone dare says “who?” I will punch you in the ear. Hardwicke is the colossal talent behind Thirteen which she co-wrote with juvenile delinquent Nikki Reed who the story is based on. She then backed up to direct one of my fav films `Lords of Dogtown’ starring Heath Ledger and Emile Hirsch. She also got Reed back to play the female lead. My main reasons for being excited about Harwicke being behind the camera for Twilight is this a director who cares more about staying true to the story, the characters and the essence of the project than commercial success or big budget special affects. This chick rocks and critics have applauded her work in the past so hopefully this will be no different.

Directing a film about a supernatural love story is a massive step out of Harwicke’s comfort zone so I dare say she fell for the tale like millions of readers out there so will therefore be dedicated to getting it right. She’s also renowned for playing a major part when it comes to casting her actors. And who has she cast? Like all her films she has wanted to keep the audience focussed on the story not the star power and has gone for a bunch of relative unknowns. Kristen Stewart is in the title role of Bella and she looks just perfect for the part from the movie poster and stills I’ve seen. Stewart has a lot of experience as a young actress and has worked alongside the likes of Jodie Foster previously. English actor and musician Robert Pattison is playing Edward Cullen and again he looks like a prefect fit. Pattison played Cedric Diggory in two Harry Potter films. Thankfully Pattison has a strong background in theatre and is considered one of the most brilliant up and coming talents on the stage. He’ll be able to put those years on London stages to good use to portray Edwards vulnerability, intelligence, danger, turmoil, strength and loving nature. Pattison has been touted as the `next Jude Law’ by British Critics and hopefully they’re right. Hardwicke has got her favourite gal pal Nikki Reed back to play Rosalie, one of the members of Edwards awesome vampire family.

In the lead up to Twilights release at cinemas I will no doubt be smothering you with every bit of information I can find on how the film is coming along etc. I’ve attached every picture I could find from the movie to this post. If you’re a fan of the novel then hopefully you will be as pleased as I am with how well the actors have been cast and styled to fit Stephanie Meyers descriptions in the book. Perfecto! More importantly, look at the chemistry between Stewart and Pattison! Boo-yah! They have definitely got Bella and Edwards relationship down pat! Excitement!

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Heath Ledger eat your heart out

This was emailed to me by a friend and I'm not sure who did it but I love them, it's hilarious.
If you know who created this let me know because they deserve the credit. Poor poor kitty.

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