Waking up yesterday morning to the sunny, glowing light of my iPhone was a little bit like waking up on Christmas morning — you sort of know what you’re gonna get, but there’s always room for surprise. Sure, there’s plenty of buzz and speculation about who might be nominated for the Academy Awards. Sure, the Golden Globes are a strange, half-broken crystal ball indicator of some of what’s to come, but you still don’t really know until you read the nomination list. I fell asleep half way through the list. It is a jumbled, confused, half-assed attempt at honoring the highest achievements in film for the year and frankly, I am bored. It’s hard to know where to even start. It’s kind of like turning in a rough draft in a freshman year creative writing class and having your bearded, vest-wearing liberal arts professor tell you to start from scratch, and with a different protagonist. I have high standards. I always have a bone or two to pick with the Academy when nominations come out. Why are we nominating good movies? Why aren’t we nominating the greatest of the great movies? We should expect good movies throughout the year. We should applaud, on the largest stage, the best ones. There are some fantastic films from 2011 that got barely a flirtatious wink from the Academy. I can barely bring myself to type the word “shame.” The irony. Shame, shame, shame. Michael Fassbender gives the performance of three lifetimes. It is a haunting, horrifyingly honest masterpiece, and one that I could not shake for months . There is no Best Actor nomination, no Best Director, Screenplay or even Supporting Actress nod for Carey Mulligan who quietly brought power and fear to her performance as Fassbender’s damaged sister. And in a completely different way, Beginners is, without a doubt, the movie that stole my heart last year. I have seen it three times, listened to the soundtrack endlessly and adored every conversation I’ve had about it. Thankfully, Christopher Plummer secured a Best Supporting Actor nomination, but Mike Mils delivered the most visceral film about love I can remember and it sticks to your skin in the best of ways, it coats your eyes when you leave the theater and everything feels different, if even for a moment, after experiencing it. It was the year of Ryan Gosling and that beautiful man got no love letter, no postcard. Drive was stylized, it was dark, it was heavy, it threw you around, it made you feel like you were and are a living, breathing human being in this world. Director Nicolas Winding Refn is a force to be reckoned with and the Academy doesn’t seem to care. I would have even taken a Carey Mulligan nomination here , just to get the film’s name on the ballot. I am happy for many films. The Artist is one I resisted and resisted seeing, hearing it was “cute” and “charming.” It is much, much more than that. I am thrilled for Bridesmaids and Moneyball and most especially for Best Actor nominee Demian Bichir for his film A Better Life . What I am not thrilled about it the insistence on nominating names instead of achievements. I love George Clooney and Alexander Payne as much as the next Westside-raised Angeleno. But I didn’t feel any sorrow, sadness or even spirit from The Descendants . I didn’t feel any magic from My Week With Marilyn . I’ve read the list over a few times. And sure, I will be happy to see some nominees win — but there’s no excitement this year, there’s no held breath or glorious moment of surprise when that-perfect-someone’s name is called and their whole world changes on screen for the rest of us to witness. Christmas morning has come and gone. I no longer believe in Santa. See the original post here: Sasha Bronner: Why I Don’t Care to Watch the Oscars This Year
Posts Tagged ‘ skin ’
1 Protester Arrested Today As Occupy L.A. Marches From Pershing Square to County Jail
Skin Doctor Arnold Klein Lists Laguna Beach House on Stilts
SELLER: Arnold Klein LOCATION: Laguna Beach, CA PRICE: $12,000,000 SIZE: 3,572 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms YOUR MAMAS NOTES: We apologize for not conversing with the kiddies on Friday but Your Mama was stymied by a series of obstinate technical troubles that left us nearly hysterical with frustration and all but dead in the blogging water. Our harrowing computer issues were finally solved by the deft skill of a paid expert but the two day delay means we’re well behind the 8-ball on a number of celebrity real estate tidbits and morsels. We begin our long slog back to currency with an elaborately engineered ocean-front residence in Laguna Beach, CA recently listed with an asking price of $12,000,000 and owned as per property records and previous reports , by well-known and much-beleaguered Beverly Hills cosmetic dermatologist Arnold Klein. Over the course of his near forty year career in the skin biz Mister Klein has nipped, tucked and injected various youth preserving substances into scads and scores of Tinseltown luminaries such as Dolly Parton, Cher, and Elizabeth Taylor. Despite his illustrious career–he bills himself on his website as the “father of modern cosmetic dermatology”–it is his long-standing professional relationship and personal friendship with deceased international superstar Michael Jackson that made Mister Klein a household name, at least amongst tabloid television watcher and gossip glossy readers. Over the last few years Mister Klein has become as if not more (in)famous for his frequent scuttlebutt shit stirring as it relates to Mister Jackson than he ever was as a medical professional. He vociferously rejects any rumors he bears any responsibility for Mister Jackson’s alleged (but rather obvious) drug problems and he’s repeatedly stated he is not to the best of his knowledge the father of two of Mister Jackson’s three children; In 2010 Mister Klein confirmed (and later recanted his confirmation of) an alleged homosexual relationship between Mister Jackson and Jason Pfeiffer, a heavyset dude who once worked for Mister Klein. Mister Klein and Mister Pfeiffer and are currently suing each other amid salacious allegations that include wrongful termination and male prostie procurement. Anyhoo, property records indicate the skin doctor scooped up his Laguna Beach house in January 1993 for $1,300,000. Current listing information shows the architecturally sui generis residence, which juts dramatically out from the cliff to which it cleaves and hovers awkwardly over the sugary sand, was built in 1971, measures 3,572 square feet over three floors and includes a total of 3 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. A pair of single car garages with shimmering stainless steel doors face front in the gated motor court. where a multi-colored contemporary sculpture signifies the main entrance to the house accessible down a long open corridor and over a short bridge. Inside the main living/dining area has the lightest of beige wall-to-wall carpeting (it may, in fact, be white but we can’t tell), a fireplace with stainless steel chimney breast, over-stuffed white sofas and chairs, and three walls of floor-to-ceiling windows and sliding glass doors that open to a three-sided cantilevered terrace with an undeniably spectacular 270-degree view up and down the rugged, southern California coastline. The room converts to a media room complete with projection equipment and a screen that scrolls down from the ceiling. The kitchen, open to both the living and dining areas has a distinct but well-maintained 1980s vibe with lustrous white tile flooring, gleaming white flat-fronted cabinetry, black marble counter tops, pantry, and a full suite of high-grade but not particularly new appliances that include a trash compactor and a 160-bottle wine cellar. The pale beige (or possibly white) wall-to-wall carpeting continues into the massive, full-floor master suite, divided into a sizable bedroom and living room areas by a free-standing double-sided wood and stainless steel fireplace. Like in the main living/dining area, glass walls provide unobstructed ocean and coastline views and give out to another cantilevered terrace with glass railing. In addition to the glass-block and white-tile bathroom, the master suite also includes a a walk-in closet, dining area, a second ocean-view terrace and a glass-roofed office/gym with retractable sun shade awning. A narrow room affixed to and suspended from the underbelly of the upper two floors contains, as per listing information, a game room and a whole bunch of exercise equipment that from the looks of the zaftig Mister Klein don’t see much use. It’s highly unlikely the very powerful California Coast Commission would allow a house such as this to be sited and built today but current listing information indicates that architectural plans drawn up by maverick-gone-mainstream architect Frank Gehry are available upon request. The listing of this property may or may not have something to do with the fact that Mister Klein filed for personal bankruptcy early in 2011 claiming $3,500,000 in debts and less than $50,000 in assets. A subsequent filing indicates his assets are more considerable than the first filing would suggest and include a total of three luxury residences in California, an extensive collection high-octane artwork that includes works by Warhol, Baldessari, Hockney, Picasso and Gaugin, and a fleet of automobiles that include a Ferrari, Bentley,