Oscar- FEVER

They announced the Oscars yesterday morning, but all I can think about is "WHAT WILL THEY WEAR!?". That must sound so cliche...

However, after the Golden Globes, it was all such a teaser... Although some didn't disappoint:

Best Picture
"Black Swan," Mike Medavoy, Brian Oliver and Scott Franklin, Producers
"The Fighter" David Hoberman, Todd Lieberman and Mark Wahlberg, Producers
"Inception," Emma Thomas and Christopher Nolan, Producers
"The Kids Are All Right," Gary Gilbert, Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and Celine Rattray, Producers

"The King's Speech," Iain Canning, Emile Sherman and Gareth Unwin, Producers

"127 Hours," Christian Colson, Danny Boyle and John Smithson, Producers
"The Social Network," Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca and Ceàn Chaffin, Producers
"Toy Story 3" Darla K. Anderson, Producer
"True Grit" Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
"Winter's Bone" Anne Rosellini and Alix Madigan-Yorkin, Producers

Actor in a Leading Role
Javier Bardem in "Biutiful"
Jeff Bridges in "True Grit"
Jesse Eisenberg in "The Social Network"

Colin Firth in "The King's Speech"

James Franco in "127 Hours"











Actor in a Supporting Role

Christian Bale in "The Fighter"

John Hawkes in "Winter's Bone"
Jeremy Renner in "The Town"
Mark Ruffalo in "The Kids Are All Right"
Geoffrey Rush in "The King's Speech"

Actress in a Leading Role
Annette Bening in "The Kids Are All Right"
Nicole Kidman in "Rabbit Hole"
Jennifer Lawrence in "Winter's Bone"

Natalie Portman in "Black Swan"

Michelle Williams in "Blue Valentine"











Actress in a Supporting Role
Amy Adams in "The Fighter"
Helena Bonham Carter in "The King's Speech"
Melissa Leo in "The Fighter"

Hailee Steinfeld in "True Grit"

Jacki Weaver in "Animal Kingdom"
Animated Feature Film

"How to Train Your Dragon" Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois

"The Illusionist" Sylvain Chomet
"Toy Story 3" Lee Unkrich
Art Direction
"Alice in Wonderland"

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1"

"Inception"
"The King's Speech"
"True Grit"
Cinematography
"Black Swan," Matthew Libatique
"Inception," Wally Pfister
"The King's Speech," Danny Cohen

"The Social Network," Jeff Cronenweth

"True Grit," Roger Deakins
Costume Design

"Alice in Wonderland," Colleen Atwood

"I Am Love," Antonella Cannarozzi
"The King's Speech," Jenny Beavan
"The Tempest," Sandy Powell
"True Grit" Mary Zophres
Directing
"Black Swan," Darren Aronofsky
"The Fighter," David O. Russell
"The King's Speech," Tom Hooper

"The Social Network," David Fincher

"True Grit," Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
Documentary (Feature)

"Exit through the Gift Shop," Banksy and Jaimie D'Cruz

"Gasland," Josh Fox and Trish Adlesic
"Inside Job," Charles Ferguson and Audrey Marrs
"Restrepo," Tim Hetherington and Sebastian Junger
"Waste Land," Lucy Walker and Angus Aynsley
Documentary (Short Subject)
"Killing in the Name"

"Poster Girl"

"Strangers No More"
"Sun Come Up"
"The Warriors of Qiugang"
Film Editing
"Black Swan"
"The Fighter"
"The King's Speech"
"127 Hours"
"The Social Network"
Foreign Language Film

"Biutiful," Mexico

"Dogtooth," Greece
"In a Better World," Denmark
"Incendies," Canada
"Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)," Algeria
Makeup
"Barney's Version," Adrien Morot

"The Way Back," Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng

"The Wolfman," Rick Baker and Dave Elsey
Music (Original Score)
"How to Train Your Dragon," John Powell
"Inception," Hans Zimmer
"The King's Speech," Alexandre Desplat
"127 Hours," A.R. Rahman

"The Social Network," Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross

Music (Original Song)

"Coming Home" from "Country Strong," Music and Lyric by Tom Douglas, Troy Verges and Hillary Lindsey

"I See the Light" from "Tangled," Music by Alan Menken Lyric by Glenn Slater
"If I Rise" from "127 Hours," Music by A.R. Rahman Lyric by Dido and Rollo Armstrong
"We Belong Together" from "Toy Story 3," Music and Lyric by Randy Newman
Short Film (Animated)

"Day & Night," Teddy Newton

"The Gruffalo," Jakob Schuh and Max Lang
"Let's Pollute," Geefwee Boedoe
"The Lost Thing," Shaun Tan and Andrew Ruhemann
"Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)" Bastien Dubois
Short Film (Live Action)
"The Confession," Tanel Toom

"The Crush," Michael Creagh

"God of Love," Luke Matheny
"Na Wewe," Ivan Goldschmidt
"Wish 143," Ian Barnes and Samantha Waite
Sound Editing
"Inception," Richard King
"Toy Story 3," Tom Myers and Michael Silvers

"Tron: Legacy," Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague

"True Grit," Skip Lievsay and Craig Berkey
"Unstoppable," Mark P. Stoeckinger
Sound Mixing

"Inception," Lora Hirschberg, Gary A. Rizzo and Ed Novick

"The King's Speech," Paul Hamblin, Martin Jensen and John Midgley
"Salt," Jeffrey J. Haboush, Greg P. Russell, Scott Millan and William Sarokin
"The Social Network," Ren Klyce, David Parker, Michael Semanick and Mark Weingarten
"True Grit," Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter F. Kurland
Visual Effects
"Alice in Wonderland," Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1," Tim Burke, John Richardson, Christian Manz and Nicolas Aithadi
"Hereafter," Michael Owens, Bryan Grill, Stephan Trojanski and Joe Farrell

"Inception," Paul Franklin, Chris Corbould, Andrew Lockley and Peter Bebb

"Iron Man 2," Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick
Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
"127 Hours," Screenplay by Danny Boyle & Simon Beaufoy

"The Social Network," Screenplay by Aaron Sorkin

"Toy Story 3," Screenplay by Michael Arndt; Story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich
"True Grit," Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
"Winter's Bone," Adapted for the screen by Debra Granik & Anne Rosellini
Writing (Original Screenplay)
"Another Year," Written by Mike Leigh
"The Fighter," Screenplay by Scott Silver and Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson; Story by Keith Dorrington & Paul Tamasy & Eric Johnson
"Inception," Written by Christopher Nolan

"The Kids Are All Right," Written by Lisa Cholodenko & Stuart Blumberg

"The King's Speech," Screenplay by David Seidler

My picks are highlighted in yellow. Who do you think will win??

West Coast Edition

This past weekend, I flew out to Los Angeles to meet up with the BF. His company is based out there and generously hosted significant others for the weekend's celebration of this year's performance.

BF and I took the opportunity to explore; he had been out there before, but it was my first time on the ground (with the exception of an hour lay-over from Hawaii a few years back).

I got in late Friday night, but Saturday morning we got up early to try to find a fun breakfast place. The concierge recommended we google 'side walk cafe' in Venice Beach. Funny enough, that happened to be the exact name of the local. This place we PERFECT! It was sunny and 70, we were on the patio overlooking the beach front path. Below is a picture of our view:

This place had amazing food!
We started out with their Mimosa, splitting a bottle of champagne over  a mix of orange, grapefruit, and pomegranate juice. It was incredible!

I had the Georgia O'Keefe omelet, which was HUGE! It consisted of avocado, bacon, mushrooms and Jack cheese. Delicious! BF had the Fiasco omelet: mushrooms, onions, jack cheese, guacamole, and their special Spanish sauce. The overall menu looked incredible and the portions were huge at a very reasonable price.

You can check out their full menu here: www.thesidewalkcafe.com

We even got entertainment while we dined! The boardwalk at Venice beach is filled with pan-handlers and 'artists' requesting 'donations' for their works. We got to experience a guitar and piano player as we ate, which was just right for our total experience.


After breakfast, we walked a bit up and down the boardwalk, as BF was determined to see the muscles of Muscle beach (only some-what creepy ;)  xoxo). Sadly there was only one somewhat muscle-y character using the weights, and the Governator was no where in sight.

As we walked, there was plenty of beautiful art an shops along the way. The really weird part about the experience was the amount of 'medicinal' marijuana that was offered... it appears that just about anyone can prescribe the stuff in CA... neither BF nor I have ever done drugs, so it wasn't an issue, so much as weird as it was so 'out in the open'.

After our jaunt on the boardwalk, we made our way to Hollywood. We drove down Rodeo drive: BF very kindly refused to park the car anywhere near this area... I think he was afraid of the stores... like the lovely shop keepers might bight off his hand to get to his wallet or something. ANY WAY, I've now 'been there, done that'. We drove through all the beautiful neighborhoods, and made our way to the not-so-beautiful Hollywood Blvd. Talk about SKETCHY!

I insisted we park in order to view Man Grauman's Chinese Theater. I have ALWAYS wanted to place my hand near Shirley Temple and the like. I even got to fist bump John Wayne! (pictures below). I was not, however, impressed with the fact that police allow street performers to run rampant in the area. I'm sorry, but I don't care how much you feel that that is part of the 'atmosphere' and 'experience'... it's sketchy.




 We also had the fun experience of the McDonald's protesters: BF is strongly opposed to McD's, due to an incident over a year ago when the one in Lincoln Park booted his car for leaving the parking lot... Needless to say, he insisted on getting a supportive flier and taking a picture with them. By the time we returned from Grauman's, they had been dispersed, and replaced by 'friendly' McDonald's employees handing out 'organic' samples.

BF and I then  made our way up to Griffin park, the best to view the Hollywood sign from. We drove all the way to the top, near the observatory. It's pretty neat only because of how iconic the sign is, otherwise, it's just a pretty park.

We then began to make our way back to Manhattan beach (that's where we were staying). I hate to be a spoil-sport at any time, but my shoulder was doing weird cramping/pain and I was overall getting cabin fever in the car. Dan was nice enough to drop me off at the hotel to rest, and he went and got us In & Out Burger as a late lunch dinner; I guess last year, there weren't many hors d'oeuvres at the event, and we wanted to be prepared...

After a relaxing afternoon, we met up with his fellow co-workers down stairs and made our way to club. (I preface this with, I forgot my camera for the evening, so these are stock pictures from the venues' websites)
BF's company rented out the club, Eden. Apparently it's a new up-coming place (LA Times review: www.latimes.com )

It was definitely a beautiful facility. All dark woods and low lighting. The company had the entire place to themselves, complete with open bar and buffets (mashed-potato :) ) and serving staff with hors d'oeuvres. They had a DJ who was just 'alright', but it got fun later in the evening when they started launching confetti! Overall, it was a gorgeous night, but it didn't end when we shut down the club at 2am... No No No....














Instead, we made our way over to the Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Blvd, where the owners had rented out the Penthouse suite and rooftop terrace! How they managed to do this the weekend of the Golden Globes is beyond me!

 

Although I didn't see any celebrities, it was so nice to get away from the cold of winter, if even for a weekend. LA was definitely an experience, and I have though of a ton more things I'd like to go back and see, however I DEFINITELY wouldn't want to live in LA (the traffic was AWFUL!).

I hope all of you enjoyed your weekends and are staying warm in this next impending snow storm.

Xoxo.

Post-Script: I meant to describe my In & Out Burger experience... I don't see what the big deal is... it's a giant Crystal's (White Castle) Slider with Italian dressing. Definitely not the best burger I've ever had, and the fries.... Five Guys is way better.... End of Story...