Oscars

I watched the Academy Awards tonight, even though I hadn't really planned on it in advance. I ended up getting my new computer delivered this week, so I was sitting downstairs working on getting things setup the way I want them, and moving things off of my old machine. In the process, I started the awards show and realized that I had not seen one movie up for an award.

I used to watch a lot of movies, and had a pretty healthy relationship with Blockbuster every weekend up until a few years ago. I don't really know what's happened in recent years, but the mainstream movies seem so blah to me anymore, and if I watch anything it's usually something on the Sundance channel. So, I didn't have any stake in the game this year while watching, although I was kind of pulling for Precious mostly because I think the story is pretty amazing and it would have been a big departure for the academy. In the end, I was pretty choked up by Sandra Bullock's acceptance speech for The Blind Side, and was happy to see a woman finally bring home the Oscar for best director (Bigelow for The Hurt Locker).

And throughout the broadcast, I took notes about some films that I would like to check out after being introducted to them tonight:
Paris 36
The Young Victoria
Logorama
An Education
A Single Man
Up in the Air (which I did want to see before, but hadn't yet gotten around to)
Food Inc (also wanted to see after an Oprah feature on this, but hadn't yet gotten around to either)
The Cove
The Most Dangerous Man in America

The crazy thing is that I found myself shedding a few tears at different moments, which was completely unexpected. The John Hughes montage was really touching. Seeing clips from all his films reminded me of how much an impact his work had on my upbringing. They're the movies that I still love to watch today. The In Memory section was pretty emotional, especially since they started out with Patrick Swayze, and had a section in there about Brittany Murphy and Natasha Richardson. They all died too young. Then I shed a tear at Bullock's acceptance speech. I must be PMS-ing.

I can relate...kind of

First case of popcorn lung outside of factory workers. Poor guy... I can relate to the love of popcorn, although I have an old-fashioned air popper and tend to indulge mostly on weekends or at the movies. I'm not quite into the heavy usage category this guy qualified for.

Best section:

Rose, who has consulted with the popcorn and flavoring industry for the past four years, was surprised to see in the Centennial man's lungs some of what she saw among factory workers.

"So I turned to him and apologized and said, 'This is a really weird question, ... but are you around a lot of popcorn?' His jaw dropped, and he said, 'How did you know to ask me that? I am popcorn."'

"He described himself as a two-pack-a-day user. Sometimes more," Rose said. "He bought it in cases."

Originally saw this on The Old New Thing.

YES!!!

Exactly!!! Although, I don't think people against health care reform really give a flying F about the lower class and whether they'd be able to afford anything related to health care (or anything else for that matter) anyway.



Reposted from perpetual self-check. As he mentions, longer version here.

Exactly

This is exactly the kind of stuff I was skeptical about when I wrote an earlier post about The Biggest Loser.

A good read

Oh, Kurt Vonnegut...what an interesting life. The Paris Review Interviews of Kurt Vonnegut. I agree with the laughter behind a grand exit into the coat closet.

Financial crisis

Not sure how old this is, but it cracked me up. Poor Andre!

Stroke of luck

Today, L. and I ventured to the Bellevue mall so that I could look for a new swimsuit. The one I've been using the past couple of weeks doesn't fit real well, and there's nothing like wearing an ill-fitting piece of spandex to make you realize that maybe you should just cough up a few bucks for something that fits properly and doesn't make you want to duck back into the locker room immediately. I think the suit I've been using dates back about 10 years now, so it was time.

I actually intended to look at Macys, but we parked by the JC Penney and I figured we could look there first. Lo and behold, they had a whole section of swimsuits, and some of them were pretty cute and came in my size. I found about 10 different ones to try on, and made my way to the dressing room while L. found a chair to wait in. I think we were secretly both worried that this trip was not going to end well. If there are two things women really hate shopping for, it's swimsuits and jeans.

Anyway, I went in and had a good chuckle over a few of them. These clothing makers have no idea how much fabric it actually takes to keep in the girls for a rather well-endowed woman as myself. In the end, I came out with three suits that fit properly and were cute! L. and I both sighed in relief and went to the counter. We didn't end up needing to go to Macys, I didn't complain about my weight, and I didn't come home depressed and empty-handed. All in all, it was a pretty good experience.

Blame inflation

Today as L. and I were walking out of the Bellevue mall, we were asked by a seemingly normal, older gentleman if we could spare $10. Not "change" or "a buck" like most people begging for money, but $10. Guess inflation has really affected everyone... Sheesh!