Gettin’ new digs?

It’s great how your life can kind of turn on a dime and all of a sudden, you realize when you go to bed that something completely different has changed.

Perhaps this is a small example, but in the space of the last, oh, three hours, the possibility of moving became a very real possibility. My current roommate Michelle, our one-time semi-roommate Brendon, and I all got dinner tonight and somehow the idea came up about moving and as I write this now, it’s looking like a very real possibility that we’re gonna move.

The idea is that our location where Michelle and I are now isn’t ideal. It’s in Hollywood, but kind of in the jankier part of the city. Out of curiosity, we looked at a complex that we both were really interested in and it turns out that there are units available that range in price from cheaper than our current place to just a little more expensive than our current place. And Brendon is looking to get out of his current living situation by June 1st, so…

I dunno. It’s very exciting when something like this happens. When you realize that you have it within your power to drastically change an integral part of your existence. I’m remembered of the days when zefrank’s video blog was still around (aw… forgot how much I miss that). He did an episode centering on the conceit of “Bust That Cycle.” I’m paraphrasing, and perhaps incorrectly, but the general conceit was that we become so ingrained in our daily routines and simply accept our surroundings and the constants in our lives as unchanging that we get stuck in that rut. He advocated for busting that cycle. For doing something in your day that completely goes against what you would do in autopilot (not to get kind of a tie in to Click or anything).

Tonight, it feels like we busted that cycle. The possibility presented itself and it feels like something that would be such a fresh change. Our current apartment is totally fine, but we certainly have begun to feel suffocated. Stifled. Hopefully, we’ll get a new place in this complex that we both love – the location’s so much better, the complex is a lot nicer with a lot of included amenities, and it would just be much more freeing to live there. Our current building has seven units and is surrounded by barbed wire. It’s just a very depressing place to have to live.

Anyway, I’m very excited by this development, and on a broader scale, excited for what this development represents. It represents the idea that change is possible, and that change can come when you least expect it.

And the nominees will be…

For what it’s worth, here are my predictions for who will be nominated for an Oscar Thursday morning.  (This whole entry turned into a much more involved excursion than I originally intended.  That sort of thing usually happens when I start talking about the Oscars.)

BEST PICTURE

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL•E 
Wild cards: Doubt, Frost/Nixon, The Reader
My personal ballot: Cloverfield, Happy-Go-Lucky, My Blueberry Nights, Slumdog Millionaire, WALL•E
My thoughts: I’ll admit that WALL•E is a long shot and my placing it here is steeped in personal bias.  But the ballot for the Oscars weighs first-place nominations more heavily than lower place nominations.  And I feel that a lot of people would put WALL•E first or second (if they’re putting Slumdog first as I also think a lot of people are likely to do).  The Dark Knight is the other wild card here, and I think Frost/Nixon will end up getting lost in the shuffle.  Ultimately, this is Slumdog’s Oscar to lose.

BEST DIRECTOR

Danny Boyle – Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard – Frost/Nixon
Christopher Nolan – The Dark Knight
Gus Van Sant - Milk

Wild cards: Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler), Stephen Daldry (The Reader), Jonathan Demme (Rachel Getting Married)
My personal ballot: The Coen Brothers (Burn After Reading), Wong Kar-Wai (My Blueberry Nights), Mike Leigh (Happy-Go-Lucky), Matt Reeves (Cloverfield), Andrew Stanton (WALL•E)
My thoughts: I wouldn’t mind seeing Aronofsky slip into the mix here, maybe in place of Howard.  I liked Frost/Nixon quite a bit, but it’s a very difficult film to love.  I appreciate it and understand that it’s well made, but beyond that, there isn’t much to get passionate about with the film.  Milk has been overrated, I think (another good-not-great film), so I wouldn’t mind seeing someone slip instead of Van Sant, but like Best Picture, it’s all pretty moot: this is Danny Boyle’s to lose.

BEST ACTOR

Clint Eastwood - Gran Torino
Richard Jenkins – The Visitor
Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
Mickey Rourke – The Wrestler
Sean Penn – Milk

Wild cards: Josh Brolin (W.), Leonardo DiCaprio (Revolutionary Road), Brad Pitt (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button)
My personal ballot: Josh Brolin (W.), Philip Seymour Hoffman (Synecdoche, New York), Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon), Sean Penn (Milk), Mickey Rourke (The Wrestler)
My thoughts: This is a solid category.  The performances I’ve seen (all but Eastwood and Jenkins) I’ve thought were pretty great.  I really like Brad Pitt, but if he’s gonna get an Oscar nomination this year, I’d really really rather prefer it were in Supporting for Burn After Reading.  He just didn’t have to do much in Benjamin Button. 

BEST ACTRESS

Anne Hathaway – Rachel Getting Married
Sally Hawkins - Happy-Go-Lucky
Melissa Leo – Frozen River
Meryl Streep – Doubt
Kate Winslet - Revolutionary Road

Wild cards: Cate Blanchett (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Angelina Jolie (Changeling), Kristin Scott-Thomas (I’ve Loved You So Long)
My personal ballot: Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married), Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky), Evan Rachel Wood (The Life Before Her Eyes), Naomi Watts (Funny Games), Kate Winslet (Revolutionary Road)
My thoughts: Hathaway, Streep, and Winslet are all locks for nominations.  Hawkins is close and I hope she doesn’t fall through the cracks.  I’m throwing Melissa Leo into the mix because there’s usually an unsung indie darling that slips into this category and Laura Linney isn’t in anything this year.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Josh Brolin - Milk
Robert Downey Jr. – Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman – Doubt
Heath Ledger – The Dark Knight
Dev Patel – Slumdog Millionaire

Wild cards: James Franco (Milk), Eddie Marsan (Happy-Go-Lucky), Brad Pitt (Burn After Reading)
My personal ballot: Robert Downey Jr. (Tropic Thunder), Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight), Emile Hirsch (Milk), Bill Irwin (Rachel Getting Married), Heath Ledger (The Dark Knight) 
My thoughts: I’m surprised Bill Irwin hasn’t latched onto the Rachel Getting Married buzz train that I think Rosemarie DeWitt will ride to a nomination (see below) – he was excellent.  And Heath Ledger is so good in The Dark Knight that he overshadowed another strong performance from Eckhart.  If only they had saved Two-Face for a third Batman film.  Dev Patel I think will slip in based on Slumdog Millionaire‘s deafening buzz it’s been generating.  Hoffman’s great in Doubt – too bad it’s a lead performance.  Honestly, though, how awkward if someone other than Heath Ledger ends up winning this. 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Penélope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis – Doubt
Rosemarie DeWitt - Rachel Getting Married
Marisa Tomei – The Wrestler
Kate Winslet – The Reader

Wild cards: Amy Adams (Doubt), Taraji P. Henson (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button), Freida Pinto (Slumdog Millionaire)
My personal ballot: Penélope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), Hope Davis (Synecdoche, New York), Viola Davis (Doubt), Rosemary DeWitt (Rachel Getting Married), Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler)
My thoughts:  Well, four of my favorites I’ve prognosticated, so I can’t complain about this category.  DeWitt I think will gain enough momentum from support for the film and from admiration for Anne Hathaway.  She’s just as good as Hathaway, though Hathaway’s getting all the award buzz, which I have no problem with.  I’d really like to see Marisa Tomei walk away with this, though.  She’s the reason The Wrestler is as emotionally-affecting as it is.  It seems like her entire career of the past ten years has been role after role of her justifying her much-derided Oscar for My Cousin Vinny.  Consider it justified, Marisa.  With The Wrestler, and earlier work in Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead and In the Bedroom, she’s proven herself to be a versatile supporting player and I hope she gets another Oscar that people can agree she deserves.  (Though Hope Davis was far and away the best part of Synecdoche, New York in a very difficult comedic role.)

L.A. weather sucks

If I were in Santa Cruz right now, the weather would be getting a little sharper as the breeze picks up and the days get cooler and start to feel shorter.  The trees on campus would be shedding their leaves, and I would be seriously considering an umbrella and coat before leaving the house most days.

If I were in Santa Rosa right now, it’d be about the same, and I could look forward to sleeping with the window open and then waking up to a chilled room that would allow me to burrow into my comforter.

As I am in Los Angeles now, the weather is instead a blistering ninetysomething degrees and I haven’t been able to sleep later than 8 in the morning because it’s so damn hot in my room.  Our AC unit is on all day and it’s still kinda hot up here on the upper floor of our building.  Rain will soon be a foreign concept.  Being chilly will soon seem like a thing of the past.

::sigh::  I’ve always hated summer weather and now, even though we’re getting well into October, it still feels like mid-August here.  And that sucks.

Moving sucks.

Anyone who has moved knows probably all of what I’m about to say, but here it goes anyway.

Moving sucks.

Setting up cable and Internet and getting everything to work sucks.

Buying things that you didn’t think you’d need to sucks.

Unpacking everything and putting it away where you think it should go sucks.

Buying new decorative things is fun, but not having income to buy them with sucks.

Grr.  It’s all just part of the whole moving in experience, I suppose.  But having to deal with the cable/TV guy today and now working to get the wireless router set up made me realize that Alex took care of all this when we were moving into our place in Santa Cruz, and this time around it’s my thing to handle.

But – there is of course an end in sight…  The kitchen is the last major thing to tackle at this point, but the bulk of the stuff is Michelle’s, so… well, maybe we’ll tackle that tonight.  For the time being, I need to run some errands, get some food (I’ve been living off of peanut butter sandwiches, Goldfish crackers, and water the past couple days because that’s all that’s available with limited kitchen stuff at my disposal), and keep unpacking.

Oh, and start the job hunt.  Yup.