March Madness

When I left California and moved to St. Louis, MO, it was December 2010. Getting through that month seemed to be a very long challenge, and then Christmas and the New Year came and went. It's now March, solidly in the spring semester at SLU (this is midterm week for the undergraduates and next week is their Spring Break), and I passed the calendar mark of 3 months on the job. But I seem to have only settled into a whirlwind pace of constant work overload - that's the madness of acclimating to a new job while defining that job for the entire campus, I suppose. Luckily, I think I can still say that I am managing to keep my head above water...

Bathroom mural #1...

Bathroom mural #2...

Starter salad of spinach, blue cheese, and fruity vinaigrette...

...at Cheese-ology: a mac and cheese restaurant! Yes, please! (I had the vegan mac.)

Ceiling inside the Landmark Tivoli theater - a new local favorite.

I made a commitment when I started my job to try to support a variety of student organizations/populations and campus events in at least my first semester at SLU. So I have also been filling some evenings and weekends with progress to meet that commitment.

SLU's production of a Shakespeare classic: well done, and more beautifully styled in mid-century Italy (very preppy and cute).

I butch it up for the last home men's basketball game of the season...

With an amazing near-center court seat (SLU vs. Xavier) - it helps to have worked through some critical incidents with the Assistant Director of Athletics!

The "SLUnatics" - student cheering section!

Halftime show included Frisbee (TM) dogs. Aw, cute and fun, just like me!

So life is still fun, weather is still fine, work is still fulfilling, people are still nice.

I travel to Philadelphia for six days for a conference, then I'm back for a week, and then another conference in Baltimore. Presentations, workshops, social obligations galore. But if all I have to complain about is full days and full nights, then life is not so bad, after all.

Not so bad to bounce around campus meetings in buildings this pretty.

SLU's seal.

Pretty skylights on a bright early spring day.

I'm still fascinated by photos of stairs: maybe it's the Escher fan in me.

Gave a guest lecture for a class being held in the engineering building - with a memorial statue of this Apollo astronaut.

Give all the busy times, an evening's simple supper of pumpkin gnocchi in arrabbiata sauce is sometimes all I need!

Another rainy evening of errands after yoga class.

Will report back after the first conference...

Twisting The Night Away: My Post-Oscars Recap 2011

As promised, here is my 2011 post-Oscars analysis...

But first, let me recap the past few weeks. February is the shortest month, but for three of these four weeks, I've been working some of my longest days (including two consecutive 6-day work weeks). I'm still happy with the move out here, and still looking for a new home, and relieved to be taking my time to really get settled into this new chapter in my life.

Front door light, on a recent apartment-hunting evening.

The nice thank you card I got from the Hindu Students Community for doing a yoga demonstration as part of their Hinduism Awareness Week series of programs on campus.

On to the matter at hand: the 83rd Academy Awards. Let's just get the sad news out of the way first: I only scored 15 out of 24 correct guesses on my ballot, for a dismal 62.50%. Yes, I know that's barely an academic grade in the D range. But I can't be fairly graded against some of the Academy's mistakes. Not that I'm bitter. I'm just standing by some of my arguments. And thankfully, I joined in on the fun party hosted by my friend Sal in the Central West End.

Follow the yellow-tiled road: this way to the Oscars party!

First of all, the red carpet entrances were fun. In my opinion, standout men included Justin Timberlake, Hugh Jackman, Robert Downey, Jr., and Matthew McCounaghey; standout women included Anne Hathaway, Jennifer Hudson, Reese Witherspoon, Penelope Cruz, Helen Mirren, and best of all: Sharon Stone! She may be crazy, but she knows how to pull off Hollywood glamour.

Then the opening. When the recorded movie tribute montage farce is the best part of the show, you know it's gonna be bad for ratings. Bravo to James Franco and Anne Hathaway for leading with a well-produced and impressively edited send-up of all the nominees with a bit of light-hearted but earnest comedy. But why was James Franco cell-phone-videorecording his entrance? And why did Anne Hathaway play the starstruck little girl all night long? (Ohmygoodness, you're all real! it's the incomparable Kirk Douglas! I'm in awe of Cate Blanchett! I'm breathing the same air as Oprah! Am I really and truly introducing Steven Spielberg? - wow!) That got old and tired very quickly. Um, you're the host, so host; don't gawk or feign wonderment that you are surrounded by celebrities. It's called: "your life." I'm sure you are always surrounded by other famous people and celebrities. But I was loving her costume and hair changes, and totally loved her song routine. In my opinion, James Franco barely added eye candy as her sidekick - she can host this bad puppy all on her own. Since when does the show lead with two technical awards? Isn't it always a supporting acting category? Whatever.

Should I enter the party on Vine...

Or on Sunset?

Thanks, but I'll take the V.I.P. entrance!

In no particular order other than the way they were printed on the oscar.go.com website (with my running tally included)...

Performance by an actor in a leading role [1/1]
Colin Firth in “The King's Speech”

• Perfectly done, and about time!

Performance by an actor in a supporting role [2/2]
Christian Bale in “The Fighter”

• I would have also been happy with Geoffrey Rush, Mark Ruffalo, or John Hawkes too. Jeremy Renner was rather unremarkable in "The Town." I would have also been happier if Christian Bale had shown up clean-shaven.

Performance by an actress in a leading role [3/3]
Natalie Portman in “Black Swan”

• Hey, I love Annette Bening too, but I thought Natalie pulled off the greater acting challenge. Annette was greatly assisted by a solid ensemble cast and fantastic writing. I know some people were turned off by Natalie's acceptance speech, but the only part that irked me was leading with "This is insane..." Come on, Harvard grad: words can't escape you that easily.

Performance by an actress in a supporting role [3/4]
Melissa Leo in “The Fighter”

• This was one of the toughest categories, and I would have been happy for any of the nominees to win, but I wanted the young Hailee Steinfeld to pull off the upset. Melissa Leo's shameless self-promotion apparently did not turn off enough voters to leave that door open though. But her totally rambling and profanity-laced acceptance speech turned me off enough.

Best animated feature film of the year [4/5]
“Toy Story 3”

• One word: Pixar. Duh.

The centerpiece I helped assemble.

Cocktail napkins for drinky-drinks...end scene!

More lovely decor. Way to work the theme, Sal!

Achievement in art direction [5/6]
“Alice in Wonderland”

• Boldest colors and most audacious design choices. Good call. 

Achievement in cinematography [5/7]
“Inception”

• The first major award I got wrong and one that I thought the voters got wrong. "Inception" had some impressive camera work, but even the very short clips shown during the listing of nominees demonstrated much more artistry in "The King's Speech." Watch it (or watch it again) and notice the fish-eye lenses, the decision to shoot close-ups from above, the framing of characters in solo shots off-center or in the corners of the screen - smart and evocative, and now overlooked. Boo.

Achievement in costume design [6/8]
“Alice in Wonderland”

•  A rather easy (and correct) choice.

Achievement in directing [7/9]
“The King's Speech”

• Very happily surprised with this win, even though I guessed "Black Swan." The reason I was excited with this win is that it bode well for a Best Picture award too.

Best documentary feature [8/10]
“Inside Job”

• I will have to see this one now: the relevance of the subject matter (and the ensuing political commentary offered during the acceptance speech) must have appealed to enough voters. And again I ask: what happened to "Waiting For 'Superman'" - was it somehow ineligible?

Best documentary short subject [8/11]
“Strangers No More”

• Didn't see any of these so I was OK with my loss of this point.

Achievement in film editing [9/12]
“The Social Network”

• Perhaps the most deserving recognition of intercutting in recent memory.

Best foreign language film of the year [9/13]
“In a Better World”

• Again, having seen none of the nominees, I was OK losing this point, even though I might have preferred a different story to be recognized.
  

Achievement in makeup [10/14]
“The Wolfman”

• When the presenter reacts to the nomination with an unscripted comment like "That's gross," then the makeup work is probably good enough to take the award.

The well-decorated refrigerator door for the well-executed party.

I started and finished with the tempranillo...and a lot of snicky-snacks along the way!

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score) [11/15]
“The Social Network”

•  Solid. Um, has Trent Reznor always been that hot? How did I miss that all these years?

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song) [11/16]
“We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3”

• OK, this is a major gripe for me. Some people at the party said they were so happy that the cute song won over the weird ethereal nominees. But guess what? This is not an award for the bestseller single on iTunes. Nor is it an award bestowed by the music industry. This award (read the title again, above) recognizes a song written specifically for a movie. And guess what? That "weird" and "ethereal" song from "127 Hours" was the most effective one. "Toy Story 3" could have used any catchy melody in the place of Randy Newman's song, even a cover of a Monkees song a la "Shrek," and it would have been as cute and sentimental as the winner. This was a missed opportunity to give "127 Hours" some kind of win. Boo.

Best animated short film [11/17]
“The Lost Thing”

• If my choice of "The Gruffalo" is ever accessible (maybe on BBC or BBC2 television), please support the talent that went into it, and maybe you will agree with me that it got appallingly overlooked. I enjoyed all the nominated short films but really fell in love with "The Gruffalo," and it's hard not to defend the one you fall in love with! 

Best live action short film [11/18]
“God of Love”

• My choice was "Na Wewe" which had powerful content and an important social message. I would have been happy with "The Confession" or "The Crush" and maybe could have even been swayed to support "Wish 143." I thought "God of Love" was quirky and cute, but not very substantial. Maybe the endorsement of the award will lead to more work from the creator, and maybe I'll be proven wrong in the long run, but for now I was disappointed.

Achievement in sound editing [11/19]
“Inception”

• My next major gripe. "Inception" had big bold bombastic sound, but "True Grit" had more sounds that needed to be edited together (gunshots, horse hooves, dialogue, musical score, etc.). I think sound editing is one of those counter-intuitive arts: when it's done well, it's almost imperceptible. Well, there wasn't much about "Inception" that was imperceptible - it was not an exercise in restraint or subtlety, but "True Grit" was, and I wanted the intelligent and finely crafted understatements in its sound editing to make a big bold bombastic splash by taking this award.

Achievement in sound mixing [12/20]
“Inception”

• This is where "Inception" was the correct choice: sound mixing is the creation of sounds, including those that don't exist in the real world (e.g., the sound of cities collapsing into the seashore, the sound of a city landscape folding in half like a paper map).

Achievement in visual effects [13/21]
“Inception”

• For a special effects movie, this one was rather obvious and I was happy that a solid sci-fi drama could get numerous nominations (and wins, this year).

Adapted screenplay [14/22]
“The Social Network”

• Aaron Sorkin has done great things for television and even Broadway, and his brain really provided the solid base for "The Social Network." But his intelligence almost killed his acceptance speech: he came across so dispassionate and cold - what was up with that?

Original screenplay [14/23]
“The King's Speech”

• "Another Year" was the only nominee I had not seen so I would have been very happy for any of the other four to win. But I really wanted "The Kids Are All Right" to be the "little movie that could" win something, and its screenplay felt like its best shot and most appropriate option because that screenplay gave the movie its sweetly emotional and intelligently realistic heart. But when "The King's Speech" won, I really felt that it would win "the big one."

Best motion picture of the year [15/24]
“The King's Speech”

• And then it did win. And I was thrilled. So sayeth the prophecy...

When all was said and done, of course I wish that I had been able to correctly predict more, but overall I was happy with how the awards turned out. I do, however, wish that the show could have been more entertaining, but I was glad it was under 4 hours long.

My door prize keychain for having the highest scoring ballot at the party (or at least having seen all 10 of the Best Picture nominees) - yay!

I loved the P.S. 22 closing musical number of "Somewhere Over The Rainbow," and it turned out to be rather prescient as a coda based on a twister-themed classic movie. I got back to the temporary apartment just when tornado sirens were blaring in the night. And less than 10 minutes later, the National Weather Service changed the warning to something much more ominous: an order to "take shelter" immediately. The staff of the apartment building went door-by-door to move us all into the lower level of the parking garage, where I typically park. So I got into my car to listen to the weather report, but could only get jazz or classical on the public radio channels, so I turned it off and reclined in the driver's seat. Well, my Academy Award adrenaline rush was now gone, and I ended up sleeping almost two hours in my car. When I woke up at 2 AM, the garage crowds were gone, as were the downpour rain, and howling wind. So I went back to the bed exhausted, and woke up even more so.

Take shelter, indeed!

I'm already looking forward to the 84th Academy Awards - let the countdown begin again! In the meantime...Tony Awards in June - hooray!

Oscars 2011

The 83rd Annual Academy Awards: February 27, 2011

More than the red carpet pre-show or the Monday morning bleary-eyed post-show, I know this is what you've been waiting for: my annual predictions (guesses and commentary) for that Gay High Holy Day known as the Academy Awards. So before co-hosts James Franco and Anne Hathaway take the lead, here I go, for whatever it may be worth...

Performance by an 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”

• Javier Bardem recently won and while his performance this year may be extraordinary (and notable for a lead acting nomination coming from a non-English language movie), his and Jeff Bridges's work is not buzzworthy. Jesse Eisenberg deserves praise for his intensely frenetic handling of an excellent script (but his acting was not markedly different than how he pulled off "Zombieland"), and James Franco literally carried his movie solo for almost its entire length. But the absolutely remarkable masterful subtlety of Colin Firth's performance will finally win him the award that he was denied in last year's "A Single Man." Yes, it's a small film about a heretofore obscure bit of history, but many other actors would have portrayed this role with the expected verbal acoustics of stammering and slurring. Colin Firth was able to project his character's speech pathology with grace by using a lot of smart amazing silence to fill the screen with frustrating emotion and character depth and not just the obvious choice of making noise. He was absolutely triumphant and his career is so deserving.

Performance by an 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”

• All of these nominations are excellent choices, but "Winter's Bone" and "The Town" have been largely dismissed in total nominations. Mark Ruffalo's time will come, but not this year. Sadly, Geoffrey Rush's excellent performance is eclipsed by his lead co-star's. So for yet another physical transformation with emotional complexity, I'm giving this one to Christian Bale. Overlooked in this category: Aaron Eckhart and Miles Teller in "Rabbit Hole."

Performance by an 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”

• Nicole Kidman in yet another overrated (but well-written and well-directed) performance? Yawn. At least her forehead showed some movement and emotion this time. Jennifer Lawrence owned it in "Winter's Bone" - what an amazing debut, so remember her name (fame!). Michelle Williams gave a fully invested and complexly realized performance in a story that I found otherwise rather dull and familiar. So it comes down to Annette Bening and Natalie Portman - both extremely talented and a joy to see in almost anything. But just like what I thought was an overrated performance in "American Beauty," I did not think her role in "The Kids Are All Right" was an acting stretch for Annette Bening. (And don't get me started on my soapbox of what I believe to be a sexist bias to reward/recognize women in classically histrionic roles...) For her physical and emotional bravery, I'm throwing my support behind Natalie Portman. It's about time she gets associated with an award that matches her talent (and that forgives her efforts in the otherwise unforgiveable "Star Wars" prequel trilogy as Queen Amidala). But Academy voters should take note: you will really have to make reparations soon for not awarding Annette Bening yet (and certainly for passing her over in "Being Julia").

Performance by an 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”

• I thought Amy Adams was good but not outstanding in "The Fighter," and probably mostly because she was playing against type. Helena Bonham Carter is long overdue for this award, but like her co-star, Geoffrey Rush, she is overshadowed by Colin Firth. Jackie Weaver had huge early buzz for her role in "Animal Kingdom," which was very much like Melissa Leo's role in "The Fighter." It seemed like this was Melissa Leo's award (especially after already proving her chops in "Frozen River") but then she ran that self-promotion campaign, which I hear is a total turn-off by the other actors who insist that the nomination is enough. If that's the case, I am sorry for her unfortunate choice, but I would be happy that it does open the door for Hailee Steinfeld. Look, it's one thing to get lucky and get cast as a kid actor in a big break (think Drew Barrymore in "E.T."); but it's another thing entirely to dominate the screen with a commanding intellectual and emotional presence that seems impossible for one's age (think Jodie Foster in "Taxi Driver" or Natalie Portman in "The Professional"). So for showing "True Grit" at the filming age of 14, I will go out on a limb here and cheer on Hailee Steinfeld - I want the 14-year old unjaded ingenue to be making a speech and breaking hearts!
  

Best animated feature film of the year
“How to Train Your Dragon”
“The Illusionist”

“Toy Story 3”

• I loved all three of these movies, and all deserve the nomination. But who are we kidding? "Toy Story 3" had more emotional punch than some live action nominees this year (which is why it is also nominated for the "Best Picture" award), and oh yeah: it's a product of Pixar, the studio that simply dominates this category.

Achievement in art direction

“Alice in Wonderland” 

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1”
“Inception”
“The King's Speech”
“True Grit”

• This category recognizes the overall artistic vision for the visual "picture" of the motion picture, inclusive of special effects (real or computer-generated), make-up, costumes, lighting, color, sets, etc. It usually goes to some kind of period drama ("The King's Speech" or "True Grit") or an effects-heavy movie ("Inception" or any "Harry Potter" movie) because the total look of all the individual effects has to have solid internal consistency. It also sometimes goes to the most visually bold movie (think color saturation, bright colors, repeated forms, and stylized shapes), and this year I think that means "Alice In Wonderland" will get its one award.

Achievement in cinematography
“Black Swan”
“Inception”

“The King's Speech”

“The Social Network”
“True Grit”

• Okay, I always feel a need to explain my choice in this category every year. Cinematography is the camera work used in the movie: the tracking shots, the close-ups, the crazy angles, the dolly shots, the backlit scenes, etc. It is not supposed to award the movie with the prettiest landscapes ("True Grit") or the most sweeping vistas (if so, "127 Hours" was overlooked in this category) or the most edits/cuts between camera angles ("The Social Network"), although sometimes the Academy voters seem to go in that direction. "Inception" had some great camera work that rotated centers of gravity and created a great off-kilter feeling. "Black Swan" had dazzling and equally dizzying camera work that used lighting, shadows, mirrors, and close-ups very effectively. Those were my top two choices until I saw "The King's Speech." That became my pick because of cinematography that was almost imperceptible: the brilliant use of filming largely with a fish-eye lens to create a frustratingly claustrophobic tone, especially in close-ups without radically altering the shapes of faces. Combined with the writing and acting that portrayed a speech pathology in spoken word but more so in silence, that camera work really helped tell the story.

Achievement in costume design

“Alice in Wonderland”

“I Am Love”
“The King's Speech”
“The Tempest”
“True Grit”

• I've only seen still photos from "The Tempest" and "I Am Love" and thought the costumes in "True Grit" and "The King's Speech" were excellent but familiar. The costumes in "Alice In Wonderland" were quite literally from another world, so my vote is for Oscar to go down the rabbit hole into Wonderland.

Achievement in directing

“Black Swan”

“The Fighter”
“The King's Speech”
“The Social Network”
“True Grit”

• I think this is one of the hardest categories this year. I would pass over "The Fighter" and "True Grit" because as good as those were, they were also familiar in their genres. "The Social Network" displayed a full command of the moviemaking process from script to design and from acting to editing. "The King's Speech" is a fantastic major debut from a young director who has done more work on the small screen. For sheer boldness of vision, for perseverance and passionate commitment to that vision, and for storytelling that completely got to me (although I know not everyone had that experience), I want Darren Aronofsky to get it for "Black Swan" - a movie that elevated the "Single White Female"/Lifetime stalker-stolen identity-mean girl movie of the week to high art that was gutsy and driven. Overlooked in this category: John Cameron Mitchell, for a truly deft gentle hand in adapting "Rabbit Hole" from stage to screen - he is clearly much more than "Hedwig."

Best documentary feature
“Exit through the Gift Shop”
“Gasland”

“Inside Job”

“Restrepo”
“Waste Land”

• For the first time, I did not get to see many of the nominated documentaries this year except for "Restrepo" and "Exit Through The Gift Shop," which were both good but not too memorable. Without an ovious frontrunner documentary that is themed to the Nazi Holocaust, I'm voting for the movie that has to do with the current financial crisis, by virtue of its timely relevance alone. (Why was "Waiting For 'Superman'" not included?!)

Best documentary short subject
“Killing in the Name”
“Poster Girl”
“Strangers No More”
“Sun Come Up”

“The Warriors of Qiugang”

• Complete guess on this one: I'm choosing based on title alone (and my assumption that the title is connected to important human rights and environmental justice issues).

Achievement in film editing
“Black Swan”
“The Fighter”
“The King's Speech”
“127 Hours”

“The Social Network” 

• The artistic choices in how all of these nominated films were edited together were all strong. But unlike my pick for cinematography (see above), I think "The Social Network" had the best use of intercutting camera shots to keep its high-energy pace.

Best foreign language film of the year
“Biutiful”
“Dogtooth”
“In a Better World”

“Incendies”

“Outside the Law (Hors-la-loi)”

• Sadly, during my move from San Francisco to St. Louis and then since my new job started around the time that all art-house movie theaters handle the U.S. releases of the foreign language films that might get slated with an Oscar nomination, I have not seen a single one of this year's hopefuls. Ugh! Javier Bardem seems to be carrying the reputation of "Biutiful" on his own (which means not a lot of buzz for any other feature of the movie), but from what I know of the nominees, "Incendies" might have the most accessible story after that, and "Outside the Law" has the advantage of being history-based (but how many people can really fall in love with a movie about the Algerian independence from France...oh wait, it's a post-World War II revolutionary struggle...hmm...could that be enough to score the win?). I'm totally guessing "Incendies" - "Blame Canada" for the win if I'm right.

Achievement in makeup
“Barney's Version”
“The Way Back”

“The Wolfman”

• Usually goes to the movie that needed the most stuff (e.g., hair, make-up, prosthetics, body paint, fake scars and injuries) to achieve a look. And that usually means a creature feature, so that's my pick.

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
“How to Train Your Dragon”
“Inception”
“The King's Speech”
“127 Hours”

“The Social Network”

• I loved the scores of all the nominees, but I thought the Golden Globe win for "The Social Network" was fully earned: slightly odd, slightly creepy, slightly rock and roll, and all edgy atonal music was a perfect atmospheric element in the motion picture.

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
“Coming Home” from “Country Strong”
“I See the Light” from “Tangled”

“If I Rise” from “127 Hours"

“We Belong Together” from “Toy Story 3”

• I didn't see "Tangled" and normally a Disney animated movie has a good track record in this category. And I'll admit it: even before her turn on "Glee," I was totally into and impressed with the soundtrack for "Country Strong," Gwyneth Paltrow and all. But Dido and A.R. Rahman crafted a perfect epilogue to the emotionally and physically harrowing "127 Hours." And yes, the song made me cry over the end credits. Would love to see it performed too!

Best animated short film
“Day & Night”

“The Gruffalo”

“Let's Pollute”
“The Lost Thing”
“Madagascar, carnet de voyage (Madagascar, a Journey Diary)”

• This is the year that I finally saw all the nominated short films - hooray! "Day & Night" is super-cute, and popularly accessible as the pre-show short film before "Toy Story 3" (in some theaters) and it has the Pixar stamp of award domination going for it. But honestly, from now on I will always try to see these animated shorts because they were all so wonderful. Really? Um, yeah, they really were. "Madagascar, carnet de voyage" was literally a travel journal come to life as seemingly three-dimensional animated pages turning to tell a story in a variety of art styles (watercolor, pastel wash, colored pencil, animated props, photo-realistic, etc.) and it truly conveyed a feeling of a journey. "Let's Pollute" was an easy farce and "The Lost Thing" was a sweet fantasy. But if Pixar can give up one award just this once, I want it to go to "The Gruffalo" - I thought this very cute story-within-a-story had animation that came close to Pixar-quality, it was told completely in rhyming verse, based on a very cute and popular children's book, and the voice talent in "The Gruffalo" includes Robbie Coltraine, John Hurt, Tom Wilkinson, and (wait for it, wait for it) Helena Bonham Carter! So at least by proxy, she could claim part of the Oscar prize (finally) with a win for "The Gruffalo."

Best live action short film
“The Confession”
“The Crush”
“God of Love”

“Na Wewe”

“Wish 143”

• Just like the animated shorts, why have I not been watching all these nominees every year? The pressure of a short film running time must force very smart artistic decisions to tell great stories in an unbelievable tiny window of time. "The Confession" was a gripping and tragic story with some major twists and turns packed into 26 minutes and was an absolutely extraordinary screen debut for a young boy, Lewis Howlett. "The Crush" took a sweet childhood love story, and completely turned it upside down with the dramatic combination of a possibly obsessed little boy and a gun, and guess what - it still had a happy ending. "God Of Love" had all the quirkiness that could have been a full-length independent movie, complete with original music soundtrack. And "Wish 143" was a completely earnest hero-love-dying narrative. But "Na Wewe" is my pick because who knew that a short film set in the Hutu-Tutsi genocidal war of Burundi in 1994 could be gut-wrenching one moment but ultimately uplifting the next moment and at times comedic while making a statement about the fallacy of "pure" race distinctions in our modern global village? I loved all of these nominees, but this one felt the most substantial (and along with "The Confession" could easily be marketed to a larger popular audience).

Achievement in sound editing
“Inception”
“Toy Story 3”
“Tron: Legacy”

“True Grit”

“Unstoppable”

• Any special effects-driven movie tends to win in this category (past winners include "Raiders Of The Lost Ark," "E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial," "Aliens," Jurassic Park," "Speed," "Titanic," and "The Dark Knight"), because this award recognizes the craft of assembling dialogue, sound effects, and music into the final motion picture. "Toy Story 3" had dialogue (but more memorable visual effects), "Inception" and "Unstoppable" had sound effects, "Tron: Legacy" had music by Daft Punk. I think "True Grit" had strengths in those three key elements, so I'm picking that one.

Achievement in sound mixing

“Inception”

“The King's Speech”
“Salt”
“The Social Network”
“True Grit”

• Sound mixing involves not only capturing all the sound on a movie set, but also creating the sounds that don't exist (e.g., any dinosaur roar in "Jurassic Park" had to be sound mixed because there are no live dinosaurs in a zoo enclosure that a boom mike can be lowered into in order to record audio, so the sound of a car engine, a lion, and a screeching tire might all get mixed together to make that sound).  So I am picking "Inception" because someone had to create the sounds of an entire world folding in half.

Achievement in visual effects
“Alice in Wonderland”
“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1”
“Hereafter”

“Inception”

“Iron Man 2”

• Perhaps the last "Harry Potter" movie will sweep the 2012 awards (like "The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King") as a tribute to the whole series. In the meantime, "Inception" was the movie with big splashy visual effects that was also a critical and popular favorite. Bingo.

Adapted screenplay
“127 Hours”

“The Social Network”

“Toy Story 3”
“True Grit”
“Winter's Bone”

• Even with his fictionalized freedoms, Aaron Sorkin's screenplay for "The Social Network" defined that movie's success and appeal. I think this is his award to lose, and it will be his to take home.

Original screenplay
“Another Year”
“The Fighter”
“Inception”

“The Kids Are All Right”

“The King's Speech”

• This screenplay category is the tougher one to call, and I am at a disadvantage because I never saw "Another Year." "The Fighter" felt too familiar, as did "Inception" (even with its layered complexity, it was basically a big ol' action sci-fi adventure). "The King's Speech" was brilliant, but I am picking "The Kids Are All Right" because I want that small, humble, smart, movie that has a lot of heart to come away with something.

Best motion picture of the year
“Black Swan”
“The Fighter”
“Inception”
“The Kids Are All Right”

“The King's Speech”

“127 Hours”
“The Social Network”
“Toy Story 3”
“True Grit”
“Winter's Bone”

• The biggest and final prize of the night always has many critics and pundits and fans guessing and arguing. I loved the writing of "The Kids Are All Right" more than the film itself. "127 Hours" was an excellent adaptation of a real-life hero struggle that became the stuff of legend and has a true tour-de-force acting performance in it that made the potentially horrifying instead be the mystically captivating. I loved "Winter's Bone" as a small independent film that just packed a wallop. "Toy Story 3" had amazing animation (of course) but was also completely lovable for its sentimentality. "The Fighter" had some impressive performances, but I thought it was "Rocky" meets "The Wrestler" and while "True Grit," had many things going for it like good acting and surprising restrained violence for a Coen brothers wild west saga, it also felt fairly familiar. I never understood the hype around "Inception" - I never thought it was mind-blowingly confusing and I thought it was decent and original sci-fi movie, but nothing much more grand or complex beyond that. "The Social Network" was my pick when I first saw it, then "Black Swan" was my top pick for a long time because of its dazzling originality. And yes, I have managed to see all ten (count em: 10!) Best Picture nominees, so that leads me to this conclusion...I think "The King's Speech" will walk away the big winner for the combination of: (a) the sheer number of its nominations, (b) the incredible acting ensemble, (c) the dominance of its lead actor, (d) its visual appeal, (e) the fact that it is expertly filmed, directed, designed, and edited, (f) its basis in a historical narrative, and last but not least, (g) it has the kind of triumphant and victorious and uplifting finale that signals the "feel good" happy ending of a movie that is easy to remember, reward, and re-watch over and over.

And the award goes to...
I'll get back into blog-land after I tally up my guesses on my ballot...phew!

Weather...Or Not (Again)

Air traffic over St. Louis on a clear blue weekend afternoon: this really must be the center crossroads of the country.

As the local residents predicted, February has brought a welcome thaw into spring weather (no more ice/snow and temperatures in the 50s and 60s). But then a cold snap struck again and overnight rains became a mess of icy highways that resulted in tragedies greater than my weeks full of meetings at work.  When I started here at SLU in December, everyone I met kept asking me, "Are you OK [in this winter weather]?" Just short of my three-month anniversary here, that question seems like a distant memory.

balm·y
adj. balm·i·er, balm·i·est
1. Having the quality or fragrance of balm; soothing.
2. Mild and pleasant: a balmy breeze.
3. (Chiefly British Slang) Eccentric in behavior.

In the nearly-spring balm, I don't have to wonder if I am OK; I feel just fine, eccentricities of weather and work and all.

Penguin postcard from "Just Say Julie" in San Francisco - but these better not be Antarctic penguins because it's not that cold anymore!

A friend asked me about my job, by way of my job title recently, "So how goes student development?" Well, it's as balmy as the weather, I suppose. The student stuff has taken a bit of a slow turn while I do more staff development and colleague development. And although I sometimes do feel like tumbling out of bed and stumbling to the kitchen, the days have been much longer than 9 to 5.

Touring production with Dee Hoty, Diana DeGarmo, and Mamie Parris was light and fluffy on the book, but still made for a good night out at the fabulous Fox Theater.

On some days, I am lucky enough to get almost a full hour to eat lunch at my desk; some days are just packed with back-to-back meetings that have me zipping from one campus building to another (hence my growing list of SLU-location mayorships on FourSquare). My guest lecture in my colleague's class went well enough for me to be invited back (next week) for a co-presentation and when graduate students from that class have seen me on campus, I have been humbled by their praise that at the very least, I did not put them to sleep lecturing with PowerPoint slides in the dark for over two hours, and at the very most, some of them are still referencing my presentation.

Thank you, New York Times editorial cartoon.

Even February 14 was just another day at work. Some of the meetings have included that collegial relationship-building that I know will pay off in the long run. I'm meeting good people at work and learning abut the local theater scene, discussing art, pondering philosophy, questioning organizational politics, wondering about social justice and systemic changes, and every once in a while collecting tips for places to see, things to do, and restaurants to try. I even joined two staff members from the department of Campus Ministry at an annual dinner of the Abrahamic Faith Traditions, sponsored by a local non-profit foundation and hosted at a retreat site on the SLU campus (all delicious vegetarian food, by the way).

SLU's Human Resources office gave out lollipops in every parking garage. Aw...sweet.

Potted mini roses from a "secret admirer" - thanks, Friend (you know who you are)!

No other Valentine except the card from my sister (thanks, Ana-Liza!) - no problem: there's an app for that.

Last weekend was a visit/interview weekend for prospective scholarship students and their families. I sat in on the first Q&A panel for families and then spoke on the second panel of the day. Normally, I love that kind of thing, but having been here for such a short time, I was nervous. Thankfully, all these years of higher education work must have paid off: three parents, one uncle, two alumni, and four staff members from the Office of Admissions thanked and congratulated me, so maybe I'll be invited back for another gig. Oh wait a minute. I am invited back. Already. For another prospective student/family weekend this Saturday. Both panels. Let's hope I know some good answers once again.

In other work, I feel I am having good influence in some committees by asking questions or coordinating follow-up with critical incident interventions, strategic planning, assessment, diversity and inclusion initiatives, etc. I've had good conversations with graduate students and professional staff, hoping I am mentoring as I am meeting and learning. I accepted an invitation to give another keynote address (with more advance notice this time - for a student awards event in April). The administrative assistant for my boss, the VP, is out on vacation for two weeks and I got "tapped" to coordinate the weekly report for the division that goes from my VP to the President. (Well, that was rather comical: me and the two other AVPs meeting with the VP and the subject of the administrative assistant's vacation comes up and all three of them turn a knowing look to me, so I didn't really get tapped to do anything; it was more like "let's dump this project on the new guy." OK, fine. I'll take one for the team.) I was even invited by a student organization to do a yoga demonstration for their Hinduism Awareness Week. Yeah, wish this beginner luck with that one (I'm banking on being able to talk my way through some basic explanations in my allotted 20-30 minutes)! There is even an undergraduate student who is quite involved on campus and insists on calling me "Dr. Quirolgico" every time he sees me. Half the time I wonder whom he is naming and the other half of the time, I gently demur and smile and ask him to call me "Ray" (even after I received the copyright registration for my dissertation I'm having a hard time with the title). With all of these experiences I feel that I am developing a more public presence on the campus.

Yup: that would be me, scheduled for the first part of the "Yoga and Meditation" event - yikes!

That increased publicity has made me much more protective of my privacy - and I don't mean I am becoming secretly reclusive. I mean I am becoming more aware of needing, locating, cultivating, and preserving some time and space for myself. So although I may not have a lot of leisure time, I am finding some outlets: movies, dinners cooked for myself, coffee with friends, and even drives around unexplored neighborhoods. The introspection has also given me more helpful pause as I continue to apartment-hunt so that I am now taking some patient solace to keep looking until I find something really appealing, and not rushing to settle for anything "decent" out of desperation.

One of the displays inside the Landmark Tivoli movie theater.

Triumph Grill (bar and restaurant): good for happy hour; conveniently close to the campus.

My first professional hockey game (St. Louis Blues 9; Anaheim Ducks 3): I must be good luck!

A belated birthday celebration with Melanie at Jilly's = Sunday brunch buffet that included hot and cold foods, bottomless coffee, and yes: a dessert buffet with make-your-own mini-cupcakes. Did not need to eat again all day!

Because I have been plugging along with work, including hours at home, I have been keeping myself company with Netflix and Hulu. So my two latest documentary film recommendations are: "Objectified" (how smart product design is also good product design) and "Food Matters" (the failure of modern medicine to acknowledge the power of nutrition in its myopic adherence to the value of pharmaceutical drug therapy).

And that, my friends, is my segue to the end of this post. Next post: Academy Award predictions, guesses, and commentaries! Do you have your guesses marked on your ballot?

A Tale of Two by Two Cities

After two snow days (actually two snow days plus one hour), the winter weather calmed a bit and it was back to work on Thursday and Friday. Those last two days were doozies, though: the snow days got scheduled into what remained of the week, and after the bleak sow and ice days of gray, it was all about putting out fires - that's my job, I suppose.

To conclude the week, and really get away from work, I found solace in a wonderful concert by Chanticleer on their one-night only tour stop. I got to chat with my friend Matthew Oltman, tenor and now the music director of the group.

A "make-up" concert for the missed holiday performance - on tour in St. Louis.

I missed the annual treat of seeing Chanticleer perform its usual holiday concert in St. Ignatius Church on the University of San Francisco campus, but getting to hear them in the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis was quite special. And although they usually never perform it outside of the holiday concert, Chanticleer sang the Biebl "Ave Maria" (seemingly just for me, at my secret request), so all is right with the world again! [See below for the majesty of this number...]

Inside the Cathedral Basilica of St. Louis, famed for its mosaics (and thankfully, for its acoustics).

On Thursday morning I was asked to pinch-hit for two keynote speakers who were weather-bound and trapped, unable to be at a student leadership conference on Saturday. So with less than 48 hours to prepare (and a concert and post-concert cocktails on Friday night, naturally), I went back to work Saturday morning and gave a 30-minute address on social change and innovation. Was told by the program coordinator that I knocked it out of the park and he couldn't believe I hadn't been doing that speech and presentation for years and was able to pull it off in under two days. Well, I guess the winter can't damped some of my skills. Score! That's how we do it...

Finally got some good rest, a full night of sleep to help me finally recover from the dreaded cold that is still "going around," did laundry, and got to 8:30 AM mass on Sunday in church number two of the week, St. Francis Xavier College Church, on the SLU campus. More Gothic loveliness. Now I'm ready for more "homework" and music, maybe the SuperBowl will be on mute, and then a new episode of "GLEE" - life is pretty good!

Sunday morning in St. Francis Xavier College Church.

And for my Super Bowl Sunday send-off (new episode of "GLEE" follows the game!), here's a video clip of Chanticleer (an older line-up) doing what they do best, from their holiday concert in me beloved Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City:

I've been learning to walk in snow and slush (better than ice) and to drive without strict adherence to the lane markers because so much of the streets are blocked by large drifts of slush that are not melting in the temperatures that hover around freezing, especially in the chilly overnights despite sunny days. I've even managed to rock the car out of slushbound parking spaces (not just once, but two times in the last 72 hours). Not bad, as far as life lessons go. I think I'll be able to face this upcoming very full week (long days running well into each evenings). Stay tuned for more news - I hope all good.

St. Loupocalypse - Winter Storm 2011!

My friend, Greg, reminded me that "Loup" is French for "wolf." So here's my current mascot.

Anyone watching the news today knows that there is a massive storm covering the entire width of the middle of the U.S., and sure enough this weather has become truly historic. Earlier this month I mused about how the fluffy snowflakes tickling my nose made me appreciate the winter weather I had missed for so many years. Well, those big fluffy flakes of frozen water are not as sweetly romantic when they are blowing horizontally across the sky, or covering the layer of ice under your feet. When the city of St. Louis has activated the National Guard to assist with a weather emergency, you know something else is up.

Monday, January 31: the last day of my Birthday Month. And it was a day at work like none other I have ever experienced. I spent the better part of 5 hours in a suddenly truncated 6-hour workday in various combinations of emergency response and disaster preparedness meetings. A university representative had attended a meeting downtown with the city, the National Weather Service, and organizations that are now new acronyms in my vocabulary: MODOT ("moe-dot," the Missouri Department of Transportation) and IDOT ("eye-dot," the Illinois Department of Transportation, not some new cute gadget from Apple). Various offices on campus coordinated efforts to consolidate food and water into minimal dining hall operations, cots were moved into the Rec Center for emergency shelter, dining services staff were put up in a local hotel to be able to come back and prepare/serve food, public safety officers were assigned some on-campus apartment spaces we identified to stay overnight on campus, a broadcast message to the campus was sent out, and I helped write the follow-up message to students (which included a strong request for all students from the local area to go home and bring friends with them, if possible, so we could minimize the human footprint on campus). All non-essential staff would be sent home and all classes were canceled from 4 PM on Monday through Tuesday. When I started working here in December, I was told that the university never shuts down because of weather, and that's just the way it is. So history was made: classes were canceled, and for over a day in advance. And because I am still in my temporary apartment comfortably close to the campus, I became one of the most senior administrators who might be able to respond in person to the campus, in the event of any major crisis. Why hello there, Second Month On The Job, how are you? At least it's good to know that I'm not exactly "non-essential." The roads were predicted to be impassable at a certain point in this storm. In fact, the weather forecasts announced that some time on Tuesday February 1, any salt or chemical treatments on the roads and sidewalks would simply "cease to be effective." In addition to MODOT and IDOT, here are some other fun terms I have learned and heard a lot in the last 48 hours: thundersnow, thundersleet, deteriorating forecast, ice accumulation, "hunker down," blizzard warning, and white-out conditions.

Entrance gate to my temporary apartment building: big snowflakes blowing in strong winds, icicles on fence, and ice under snow on the ground. I'm staying indoors, as much as I can, thank you very much!

Tuesday, February 1: a strangely quiet day. I checked in with staff members periodically and for the most part, the campus is calm. The roads stayed mostly empty; airlines canceled over 300 flights at Lambert. About midday, I hit weather-news-overload and had to switch to streaming Netflix and homework reading. I mean, when the constant message from the news is "Stay off the roads after 12 noon and just get to where you need to be to stay indoors and hunker down and ride out this storm," there's not much else to do. The weather deteriorated all day, with temperatures dropping, ice accumulating, and winds gusting. By late afternoon, the highway I drove on just two months ago to get here, I-70, was completely shut down in the state: all traffic was stopped from Kansas City to St. Louis. Around that time, I got a call from my supervisor to tell me that all the VPs had conference-called and (I think, smartly) decided to keep the university closed for a second full day, tomorrow February 2. Oh hello there, Groundhog Day. Do yourself a favor, Punxsutawney Phil: stay well underground because it's nasty up here above ground! Everyone is just hoping that the ice accumulation and strong winds tonight and tomorrow will not result in downed power lines or cause power outages on campus. If we do get the privilege of uninterrupted power, I'll spend some time tomorrow on the laptop and on WiFi rearranging my calendar to make up for the lost days and will try to get work done remotely.

So let's hope that we will all be able to say we rode out this storm by the end of the week. I'm hopeful that St. Louis University will recover and get back to normal business soon, and in all likelihood that will happen faster than the rest of the city of St. Louis. In the meantime, I'm happy to stay hunkered down. Having already survived the elements in "Snowpocalypse 2010" (the late December 2010 blizzard in New York City), I am confident I will survive "St. Loupocalypse 2011," which is my newest mayor-ship on FourSquare - ha!

Feeling like this solitary tree: steadfastly facing winter's worst, hoping for the best!

More hot chocolate, please...