I don’t know why I’m possessed to do these right now, but why the hell not? If I’m wrong, I’ll shake it off and say “these were just fun” but if I’m right on any of ‘em, I’ll say “told you so!”

Best Supporting Actress

Mo’Nique in Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire

Mo’Nique’s kinda had this in the bag all year since the film debuted at Sundance. Until a month or so ago, the buzz was there with hesitation, but now that people are seeing the movie and confirming that she is, in fact, the shit, she’s got this, hands down.

Stiff competition:

Other competition:

Best Supporting Actor:

Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds

This category’s kinda up in the air at this point. Waltz has had the most buzz so far and I think he’s pretty much a lock for at least a nomination. Whether he wins or not remains unseen, but if they’re going to honor the film (and I think the Academy will want to), they can do it here.

Stiff competition:

Other competition:

Best Actress:

Gabourey “Gabby” Sidibe in Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire

This one’s gonna be a tough one to call. It will likely come down to Sidibe, Meryl Streep, and Carey Mulligan. A lot of how this race will play out is going to depend on how critical kudos get doled out, but all three are pretty much locks for nominations. Mulligan’s lost steam and she needs a critical push if she wants to eek out a win, and Streep is Streep, so she’s fine. Precious is likely going to become the steamroller movie of the season, I think, and Sidibe is a large part of the film’s success (I get to see it Wednesday night and am beyond excited). It’s a tough race right now, but it’s also only late October. Don’t hold me to this if I’m wrong – Sidibe has a lot going against her: she’s young, she’s a newcomer, and she’s black. All things the Academy shies away from in this category, but hey, stranger things have happened, and if the movie and the performance click like I think they will, we could see her a big winner.

Stiff competition:

Other competition:

Best Actor:

Colin Firth in A Single Man

A Single Man got picked up by The Weinstein Company, and they’re notoriously pushy in their Oscar campaigns, and Firth has already been winning mantle bling for his role here. He’s the safest bet right now.

Stiff competition:

Other competition:

Best Director:

Kathryn Bigelow for The Hurt Locker

At this point, I’m banking on The Hurt Locker and Precious fighting it out for the bulk of major prizes. While predicting Bigelow here is risky (women just don’t win Oscars for directing), I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened. It’s a long shot, but it’s what I’m going with – at this point, I don’t see both films winning both director and picture, so I’m splitting the vote.

Stiff competition:

Other competition:

Best Picture:

Precious: Based On The Novel Push By Sapphire

I have no doubt about the acting recognition this film will likely receive, and I think that especially with ten nominees this year, it’s a lock for a nomination. The reason I think it’ll win (at least at this point in the race) is because I just can’t see anything else having the same combination of acting prowess, audience approval, and emotional impact. If Avatar really does turn into the next Titanic, I think it’ll be appreciated-not-loved. An Education is too small a film to make a huge impact. Nine is too similar to Chicago to duplicate that film’s Oscar successes. Up in the Air is similarly too polished and calculated to generate a lot of wins – plenty of nominations, yes, but few wins, I think.

Stiff competition:

Other competition:

If there’s one show that seems to be the pop culture zeitgeist hit of the new television season, it’s Glee, and with good reason: the show is entertaining, engrossing, funny, and it’s got killer music. It’s also one of the most frustrating shows on television right now.

I think what’s so infuriating about the show is that it hasn’t decided with any consistency what it wants to be. High school satire? Full-on musical TV show that’s super campy? Pitch-black comedy? A showcase for some great natural singing? The show’s biggest problem is the style of music jarring with the style of the program. Nearly all of the songs arise in a natural manner (like they’re singing in rehearsal or are supposed to exist in a real-world environment). They’ve hired talented singers to fill the roles, but they can’t make the music feel organic at all (it’s all an Auto-Tuned hell, and they’ve picked good songs that usually do a really great job from a narrative standpoint, but they have so much gloss and production on them that it’s distracting). It’s what made “Ride With Me” such a treat, ’cause it sounded like they were all in a classroom joyously singing together. These people have the chops, for the most part – let ‘em sing.

Then, of course, there’s the dreaded fake-pregnancy storyline, which doesn’t work at all. God bless Jessalyn Gelsig, though, as the crazy “mom” to be – as she so loonily proved on Nip/Tuck, she does crazy about as well as anyone working in the industry. The Will/Emma/Ken triangle is working pretty well (now that they’re acting like adults about it and everyone seems to acknowledge that there’s chemistry between Will and Emma). Most importantly, the acting is consistently impressive, primarily from Jayma Mays (can we get her and Anna Faris playing sisters in something soon?), Jane Lynch, Gelsig, and Dianna Agron as pregnant cheerleader Quinn. Agron is the one who constantly blows me away. There are so many moments where you can just feel her getting it and bringing depth to what is probably the most stereotypical role on the show.

Though Glee has been all over the map and back again, there’s some quality that I can’t quite pinpoint that makes it work, even in its current flawed state. But I suppose I will take this as improvement, as a handful of episodes ago, I was tweeting that there was something nagging at me that was a gaping problem in the show. The show has only improved as it’s unfurled more episodes, which bodes well for the rest of this season. It’s a good sign that there seems to be so many fans and critics alike talking about the show’s flaws and pulling for the show to overcome them and become something great. It definitely has the potential.

What’s more, there’s nothing quite like a show that can make you feel an emotional reaction to a formerly deeply stereotypical pregnant Christian cheerleader by using a song written by Avril Lavigne for a movie about a dragon.

Thanks, A.V. Club.

(I’ll have my thoughts about Glee up in the next day or so, for those who care.)

I’ve often said that deep within my soul lives a middle-aged woman who likes to throw parties. That line sums me up pretty well. I think said woman looks like an amalgam of the following two women:

Not just any photo of Meryl Streep or Margaret Atwood (who’s on Twitter – how fucking awesome is that?!!) – these particular pictures. Their poses/actions are applicable, too.

That’s all.

Reading books takes more time and represents a more significant chunk of your life than a movie-viewing experience does. Movies will take three hours from your life, tops, and they’re solitary activities where generally you’re only watching that movie. But I carry books with me for weeks (even if I’m reading quickly, I tend to read a bunch of things simultaneously), and that book immediately assumes an instant association with the period in my life when I read it.

A movie can be re-watched with little effort, but to re-read a book is very much a commitment. Reviews are thus a much more integral step in the reading process, as I’ve learned during my epic failure of completing the Cannonball Read. A review helps to encapsulate how the book affected me and what I was thus feeling and experiencing during the period in which I read it. Before attempting the Cannonball (read 100 books in a year), I don’t think I’d ever written a book review. Now I have seven snapshots of my reading history since January 1, 2009.

I was simply too ambitious in this task, and I’ll own up to that. Though one of my books was nearly 900 pages in length (the amazing, awesome I Know This Much Is True), two of them were just barely over 200 pages. Though others seemed to glide past the finish line ahead of schedule, I struggled to average one book a month. All told, though, I’m glad I tried. I got to put together a list of books I want to read, which required research and a thirst for good literature, and I probably read more than if I hadn’t at least tried the ambitious task of 100 books in a year. And that alone is a triumph for me.

The Cannonball will be back starting November 1st, and I will be participating again. The challenge has been softened considerably: 52 books in a year. One book a week. Doable, right? Enh, probably not for me. But I will try. I think the caveat I’m going to put on myself is that all 52 books must be books I already own. I have way more books than I’ve actually read, but every book I own (for the most part) is a book that I’ve wanted to read.

All in all, though I failed miserably, I’m still glad I tried at the first round. And with the promise of a monetary donation to charity if you finish 52 books, maybe I’ll actually finish the damn thing this time around.

Or, y’know, fail miserably again.

Let’s just stew, for a moment, in some gem lines that Mariah Carey graces us with on her new album, Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel:

“It’s goin’ down like a denominator.”
“Love you like a frost pop, love you like a milkshake.”
“This is for real, for real, for real. / Oprah Winfrey whole segment for real.”
“Not even a nail technician with a whole lotta gel and acrylic could fix this. If we were two Lego blocks, even the Harvard University graduating class of 2010 couldn’t put us back together again.”
“Seein’ right through you like you’re bathin’ in Windex.”

On “More Than Just Friends,” after Mariah sings “I wanna be all on your lips like gelato,” we get a helpful backup rapper exclaim “ICE CREAM!” in case we were unaware that gelato (which fits with the rhyme scheme) is ice cream.

There’s also a song called “Candy Bling.”

All said, this is Mariah doing Mariah. Same ridiculous lyrics. Same bizarre 80’s cover song (this time around, it’s Foreigner’s I Want To Know What Love Is). Same penchant for proving that she does indeed have a really awesome whistle register by using it on every goddamn song’s climax. Same font that her name’s been scrawled in for every album except last year’s E=MC². Same vocal acrobatics all over the damn place. Same catchy, easily-digestible pop/R&B goodness. (All that’s missing, really, is a one-word title that would be better suited to a Lisa Frank line of products: something like Meadow or Breeze or Sunshine; hell, I wouldn’t put it past Mariah to have an album named French Braid.)

But all these ridiculous attributes are what make Mariah appealing. She’s campy and she’s over the top, but she seems to at least realize that she’s putting on a persona. Take, for example, the laughing that comes in at the end of that aforementioned ridiculous line about the entire Harvard University graduating class of 2010. Mariah at least isn’t oblivious, which makes this music go down easier. We’re laughing with her, not at her.

Where Memoirs falters is in variety. Her previous albums have been compilations of collaborations with several different producers, leading to albums like E=MC² where you’ll get a reggae-influenced song, a straight-up gospel ballad, a T-Pain abomination, and a retro-inspired upbeat number all on the same album. Here, everything sounds generally like Butterfly-meets-Rainbow. Butterfly isn’t a terrible album, but Rainbow certainly is, so you get some of Rainbow’s monotonous generic R&B background droning on some tracks like “The Impossible.” As the whole album is streamlined from a production standpoint, you get a lot of the same style thrown at you – count how many songs feature a really strong snare on the 2- and/or 4-count of the beat. It’s not detrimental, but the album is on the longer side at just under an hour, so you can’t help but wonder if a couple of the songs or at least the handful of reprises or interludes could’ve been ditched.

All said, though, it’s clear that Mariah will remain relevant for at least a few more years. After the disastrous post-Glitter years, it’s nice to see one of our perennial divas in fine form for three albums in a row. (Hell – she’s courting Oscar buzz for the upcoming Precious. Who would’ve thought that would ever be possible?) I don’t know if Mariah will ever rise above the task of putting out a merely competent record and make a defining artistic statement – she certainly hasn’t yet. But on each of her albums, you see glimmers of the possibility (here, it’s probably on “Up Out My Face (Reprise),” which out of nowhere, re-contextualizes a song as a boisterous marching band instrumental – it’s kind of awesome). For now, though, we have another album of largely-enjoyable tracks to tide us until Mariah decides to push herself that extra step to make a truly great album. B+

I’m fascinated by Beyoncé’s latest video for Sweet Dreams:

It’s so… avant-garde. And bizarre. And oddly compelling. And frightening.

I mean, you have to give her props for being able to sustain an entire video based on her performance alone. No story necessary, just Sasha Fierce and her backup dancers and a crazycreepy sexy C-3PO outfit and um, we’re good to go.

I just read an early rave of Mother and Child from Toronto, the viewer saying it’s got Oscar-bait written all over it and that Annette Bening is amazing in it.

So if the film gets picked up for distribution by the end of the year and Hilary Swank’s Amelia turns into the awards-bait it looks like, might we have a Swank/Bening showdown again? Oscar enthusiasts will remember that Swank narrowly beat Bening in 1999 and that Bening was Swank’s close competition in 2004 when Swank won for Million Dollar Baby. It has been five years, so I guess we’re due.

Though my money’s on Carey Mulligan. It has been since her buzz out of Sundance at the beginning of the year.

Two Weeks – Grizzly Bear from Gabe Askew on Vimeo.

This is a fan-made video for the song “Two Weeks” by a band named Grizzly Bear. I know nothing of this band, but I downloaded the whole album based on this song (very indie folk, which means that I quite like it, but have to be in the mood to wanna listen to it).

The above video, though? FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC. Also super interesting is this interview with Gabe Askew, who made the video. The reason it looks so damned good is because this Gabe guy has been doing animation forever and knows his shit. And works for a huge animation company that let him use their render farm. So it’s basically impossible to dream of making something as good (I say this as someone who has never toyed with animation). Oh well. It’s discoveries like this video that make me realize that YouTube and Web 2.0 are ultimately good developments in our popular culture. At times it may seem like Twitter/Facebook/stupid blogs like this one are ruining everything. But there are gems here and there. This, my friends, is a gem.

I do love you. And you know… there is something very important that we need to do as soon as possible.

What’s that?

Just finished Eyes Wide Shut, which I’ve been re-watching in chunks on Netflix Instant Queue for months now. It’s such an interesting movie.

Full disclosure first: Imogen Heap is without a doubt my favorite musical artist. Frou Frou’s Details is my most-played album in iTunes (Imogen Heap is one half of Frou Frou with producer Guy Sigsworth), and “Hide and Seek” is my most-played song. The song in second place has almost half as many plays as “Hide and Seek” (though in my defense, I liked it before it was used on The O.C.). So I was bound to like Imogen’s latest, Ellipse. And, surprise surprise: I do quite like Ellipse.

If the album is at all anticlimactic, it’s because Imogen’s been so thorough in her use of various social networking during the creation of the album. There’s a 40-episode VBlog on YouTube that spans the last two years, chronicling the renovation of Imogen’s childhood home where she now lives, including the creation of a dream studio where she eventually recorded the album. The whole thing will eventually be edited down into a feature-length documentary to be released at a later date.

What strikes me about the endeavor now, having rewatched nearly all of them in light of the album’s release, is how similar the experience was to watching Shut Up & Sing, the wonderful documentary about the Dixie Chicks, which followed them, in part, as they made their last album. Both video projects were great in terms of seeing the creative process play out and track how songs evolved and changed and eventually ended up at their finished iterations. The by-product of the VBlogs is that, having been a part of Ellipse’s creation for over a year now, however indirectly, I feel attached to Imogen’s new album being a success (and I’m sure it’s telling that I feel it’s only appropriate to address her on a first-name basis in this review).

Thankfully, it is a success, though it isn’t without a couple nitpicky details I might change. Imogen’s music has always masterfully balanced the coldness that is inherent to electronic music with the warmth and passion of her vocals and lyrics. Ellipse is more than successful on this front. In an album full of synthesized sounds, the clear emotional strength of Imogen’s style comes through loud and clear. Songs like “Wait It Out” (about the inevitable end of a relationship) and “Half Life” (about unrequited love) are emotional standouts, but the upbeat songs fare just as well. The peppy “Tidal” and cheeky “Bad Body Double” are practically giddy.

If there’s one disappointment with the album, it’s that there isn’t too terribly much innovation going on with Imogen as an artist. This is basically Speak for Yourself, Part II. Now, I love her previous album. But seeing the process of making the album for so long hinted at more innovation than what is ultimately on display here. And of course, at a base level, you just want to see your favorite artists develop their talents. “Swoon” is the most egregious example of this stasis on the album, with a backing beat that sounds sucked directly out of “Daylight Robbery” or “I Am In Love With You” from Yourself. “Canvas” and perhaps “Little Bird” are the album highlights, creatively-speaking, because they sound unlike anything Imogen’s done before (though “Little Bird” lacks some oomph). And while I’m nitpicking: the song order isn’t quite what I think it should be (“Tidal” sounds like a second-to-last song, and “The Fire” is more of a bonus after-the-last-song bit).

Ultimately, though, I’m ecstatic that Immi’s back making and releasing music. It’s so great to see an artist utilize the Internet so effectively (I’m following her on Twitter, too) to keep fans engaged even in the down time between projects. I can’t wait to finally see her on tour, and I can’t wait to wear Ellipse out on my iPod (can you “wear out” an MP3, though?). I’m confident there’s a groundbreaking album in Imogen yet (to use the common comparison to Björk, Immi’s definitely got a Homogenic in her), but with Ellipse, she still hasn’t made it. Yet. A-

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