Category Archives: films

Oscars, it’s the most wonderful time of the year!

I should be jumping *not literally* for joy with my pregnancy happiness, shopping for adorable rompers for Olivia but sadly I’m sitting on the bummer couch. I had jury duty yesterday and it was torture. It took all day, my body is sore from sitting and waiting all day, I am sure I caught every disease from all those people and I had to cancel my weekly acupuncture appt. What a nightmare, I basically had to say I was going into labor to get the judge to excuse me. The cherry on my bullshit sundae is overall financial drama. My mortgage company made a huge boo-boo and deducted this month’s payment twice, still trying to straighten that out, meanwhile I’m trying to negotiate lower payments with my first mortgage and so far have only been successful in increasing our payments. I am tied up in medical billing hell due to a technical error and I can not get in touch with the billing dept to correct the mistake and my homeowner’s insurance somehow increased by $123 this year. Needless to say I am getting it from all sides and my usual juggling routine is not going so well. I would like to start shopping for nursery furniture but the powers that be are making that very difficult. The good news is I am feeling Olivia kick on a daily basis, as a matter of fact she feels like she will be a soccer player for sure. I have spent this morning dealing with all these companies and made absolutely no progress. My head is aching and I feel emotionally and phsyically drained. I still have the big decision of fixing our leaking garage or having my dream shower. To my friends and husband its a no-brainer, fix the garage and have a less expensive shower but to me, that’s like saying have no shower at all. I have economized all I could and there is nothing I could cut from the shower budget. Oh well, nothing I can do now, I’ll think about that tomorrow *as Scarlett O’ Hara says*

Now on to my good buddy Oscar.

I adore the Oscar’s, it’s the only time of year besides the Golden Globes *which is really a fancy keg party*

that you see old fashioned movie star glamour. Here are my picks for this year’s ceremony.

Best motion picture of the year *many contenders this year*

Precious *my pick*

Avatar *obvious choice I’ll be shocked if it doesn’t win*

Performance by an actor in a leading role

Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart” *he took it a the GG’s but I don’t understand the appeal*

George Clooney in “Up in the Air” *my pick*

Performance by an actress in a leading role

Gabourey Sidibe in Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire *would be nice but she’s a rookie*

Meryl Streep in Julie & Julia *she’ll take it, no question*

*Please tell me, why oh why is Sandra Bullock nominated???

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds *no doubt in my mind, he has got this!*

Performance by an actor in a supporting role

Mo’Nique in Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire *there is no competition*

Best animated feature film of the year

Fantastic Mr. Fox *my pick, this movie was incredibly well-written, smart and well cast*

Up  *it’s gonna win*

Achievement in art direction

Avatar *will take it*

Sherlock Holmes *I thought it was visually entertaining*

sidenote, we are seeing The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus tomorrow night so my vote may change

Achievement in cinematography

Avatar *hard to beat, Harry Potter usually owns this category*

Achievement in costume design

Coco before Chanel *although I haven’t seen it, noone will defeat the reigning Queen*

Achievement in directing

James Cameron *it’s his night*

Quentin Tarantino  *if I had it my way, I’d give it to QT*

Best documentary feature

Food, Inc *there has been so much buzz about this doc, I couldn’t see it or I would never eat meat again*

Best documentary short subject
China’s Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province *I choose this only because I happened to see it on HBO, nothing brillant but it was touching*

Achievement in film editing

Avatar

Best foreign language film of the year

The White Ribbon Germany *this is still on my Netflix queue, no release date yet*

Achievement in makeup

The Young Victoria *it was between this and Star Trek, I go with the period film everytime*

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)

Fantastic Mr. Fox *I really enjoyed this score*

Avatar *will most likely take it but it annoyed me how Lion King this score felt*

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)

Take It All from Nine  *my pick*

The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart) from Crazy Heart  *not at all a fan but they won at GG’s and films based on musicians tend to win*

Adapted screenplay

District 9 * they were robbed at the Golden Globes, redemption!*

Original screenplay

Inglourious Basterds *fingers crossed*

The Hurt Locker *maybe?*

That’s my 2 cents, I hope next year I will be able to sit in the red carpet audience however I’ve been saying the same thing since I was 13! On the plus side of things, our house is being considered for a TV show *although I doubt we’ll be picked because our house is too small* and we went to Lowes this weekend to replace our sad dying houseplant and I picked up some home reno mags and this guy, makes me want a sewing machine.

12 Days till Gender Ultrasound

Throughout this entire pregnancy I haven’t really considered having a girl. For some reason it’s embedded in my head we are having a boy, Parker. Today it dawned on me, I could have a girl, Olivia! Most of my friends and Antz co-workers are betting we are having a girl but my acupuncturist/doula, Gilli, said I look like I’m carrying a boy. This has made me re-think my current nursery plans. As gender neutral as it is, I have to throw in some girlie elements for Liv. I found the exact same bedding by Rosemary Hallgarten as the blue one I planned to get for Parker in pink and beige. Then I found a Friends With You Malfi in pink, and now I am obsessed with the Tazi Pouf in pink and also pink curtains which I still need to find in the perfect shade. So although I wanted to stay away from pastels, I think the brown and beige really bring the pink down to an Earth tone.

Whenever I walk into that room it seems more impossible to fit this many things in there. There is also a few of Antz paintings that I want to keep but they do not seem to coordinate well with the nursery design. We also have to make room in the living room for the movie posters he has in there now. I can not wait to find out what we are having. I also want to see the little guy/gal moving, the last ultrasound was November and I haven’t felt any movement yet which is driving me crazy. We are going to a birthday party for Antz cousin *no idea who he is, one of thousands* tomorrow and Sunday we are having brunch with his sister and her sons *both are recently married*. This month of Paramount movies sucks, the only 2 we are seeing are the Princess & the Frog and Nine. I really want to see the Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.

Happy Year of the Tiger!!

I am super excited for 2010! So many amazing. life-changing experiences are bound to happen in this decade. I would love to start off with a bang and book our babymoon in Montreal but I must wait until the end of February when Antz gets his bonus. We had a nice NYE cleaning up the house *very productive* I did laundry and cleaned the bedroom while Antz cleaned his office. I am so proud, he managed to clean out his desk drawers and he even cleared out a shelf on his bookcase for bebe. We went to a matinee of Avatar which I thought was ok however Antz loved it. We then spontaneously drove past the Rose Parade route to gawk at the out-of-towners camped out overnight along Colorado Blvd. and the Rose Bowl. Luckily we got a sneak peek at about 10 of the parade floats only we forgot the cameras at home *grrr*. We stopped by Antz Mom’s house for a few hours and watched a DVD of the family her brother made as a Christmas gift. We made it back home by 10:30 and hung out watching the countdown on CNN while Antz uploaded some videos from our game show days. After a New Year’s kiss and a few nieghborhood fireworks I had an attack of the sleepies hence this early morning post. My best friend is coming over for a visit with her son so I am stokked to see her. I am watching the coolest documentary, Man on a Wire. So here’s a toast *of water* to new adventures, new bebe, new commitments & new Lizzie!

Post Christmas Laziness

Christmas was just lovely. We went to Antz Mom’s house and I was keeping my fingers crossed that she would cook. Lucky me, she made yummy lasagna. She gave me a pink housecoat 

Antz got $20, just what he wanted.

Mum-in-law, Maria got a Swarovski elephant to add to her collection

Antz sister and nephew

After laughing my ass off from seeing pictures of Antz and his sister when they were little, we went home to meet Story and Chris. We then went to Downtown LA to see Sherlock Holmes at the new LA Live Cinemas. I thought it would be cool to check out the new complex but it was crowded and although Antz and I were able to buy tickets, it sold out before Story & Chris could. Boo! So we met my friends Nicolette and her bf Ale and went to Glendale to see it at the Mann and met our friend George. We got tickets *no problems* and grabbed a bite. Sherlock Holmes was very good, very Guy Ritchie signature. I love Mark Strong *he played the villan*. Robert Downey Jr was excellent and Jude Law was OK. So good times all around. Antz sister Debra got us a preggo journal but we already have one so I’m going to exchange it for this guy

I am hoping to find this at Borders to give it a quick skim thru, most of my baby books are not as helpful as they seem. I bought What to Expect When Expecting so long ago, I had to buy a revised version twice! I am super mega stoked because I just found out our best friends got us something from our baby registry

Can’t wait for the bebe to use these on dark nights as a nightlight. YAY!

Winter is here in Los Angeles

It is so cold in my house. Every single leaf on the plum tree in front of our house has fallen off. It has been windy and freezing. We took week 16 pics last night but I don’t love them like the other weeks.

Well, it was cold and I wasn’t in a photogenic mood. I am mega bummed because yesterday my laptop died. Dell is sending me a new hard drive but I won’t get it until Monday which is torture for me. I am borrowing Antz computer in the meantime but he has the next 4 days off and with 1 computer it’s going to be a very miserable Christmas. Tonight we are going to see Twilight: New Moon and on Friday we are seeing Sherlock Holmes with Story and Chris so that will occupy my time for a while. I am thinking of starting a crafts project but I’m not sure what. We finally sent out our Holiday cards and we are getting great feedback. Next year I want to work in improving my penmanship, I wasn’t so keen on addressing the cards. We received our first official bebe gift from our friends *who recently got married and bought a house* Natalie and Vinny. It’s a Christmas tree hand print ornament. I can’t wait to use it next year which means I have to buy the pink tree for sure.

I’m not sure if I’m going to yoga tonight because the movie starts at 9 and it’s cutting it too close. Maybe I’ll go next Monday. I hope my computer gets fixed soon because I feel like my right hand has been cut off. When I get the new hard drive it will be set back to factory settings so I will lose all my programs and files. Luckily I backed most of everything on my external hard drive but I am worried I won’t be able to reinstall Microsoft Office. It’s also very time consuming to set up everything again. Antz feels guilty when he wants to use his computer because I have nothing to do. We ended up going to bed at 9:30 last night out of sheer boredom. Goes to show how much I rely on my computer for entertainment. Boo!

Film Locations Tour

I am surprised we made it to 8 locations in 4 hours. I was the only one excited to see the houses but Antz had fun playing photographer while my Mom and her pug, Ching, slept most of the drive. Our first stop, Long Beach

Donnie Darko House

This is the house the Darko family live in, an airplane engine falls into Donnie’s bedroom and kills him, eventually. Across the street is the massively beautiful Tudor that is Patrick Swayze’s character, Jim Cunningham’s residence which Donnie burns down and child pornography is found. Great movie!

 
 Flickr

I was mega excited to see this house. It feels so iconic. I’ve seen this movie at least one hundred times. I was happy to see it in it’s orginal condition but it did look a bit shabby compared to being on the same street as the other two enormous houses. Super bummed that cars were parked in the circular driveway. There’s a pic from 1986 so you can see how well preserved it looks. Cameron’s house is in Illinois and was recently on the market for $1.65 million, Ferrari not included.

All decked out for Christmas. This house is located in Pasadena on the most beautiful tree-lined street.

Yours, Mine & Ours House (1968)
http://www.seeing-stars.com/Images/ScenesFromMovies/YoursMine&OursHouse.jpg

The 1893 Victorian from a movie in the late 60’s starring Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda. They are both widows whom get married and have a total of 18 children plus a new baby on the way. The original Duggar’s. The house is amazing in person.

We also saw the house from the TV show Mama’s Family and the first McDonald’s in California. What an interesting day, we are now off to a party in Bel Air with my Mom.

Wow, I’m a total genuis! Well, not really

I told you I would post the results of my Mom’s drum shoot. I am quite pleased with the photos.

We took over 250 shots and I finally used the bigger lens, which I love! This is my Mom’s kickass American Apparel outfit and she borrowed my moccasins and earrings. Poor thing was burning up in the sun wearing all black. I think for a novice I did pretty good. My Mom loves the pics and we rocked out to the Triplets of Bellville soundtrack during the shoot, one of my favorites. Tomorrow I am really excited because we are going on a Film Locations tour!

Golden Globies

One of my favorite award shows of the year is coming soon. Hardly any of my picks ever win but here are my winners anyway.

The 67th Annual Golden Globe Awards

BEST MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS *my pick*
PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE *obvious winner*

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA

GABOUREY SIDIBE
PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE *my pick*
SANDRA BULLOCK
THE BLIND SIDE *why?*

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – DRAMA

MORGAN FREEMAN
INVICTUS  *not that I’ve seen this, my pick*

BEST MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL

NINE *I want to see this, how can anything with Daniel Day Lewis and Marion Cotillard not win*

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR
MUSICAL

MARION COTILLARD
NINE *my pick*
MERYL STREEP
JULIE & JULIA *obvious win, she’s the golden girl*

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MOTION PICTURE – COMEDY OR MUSICAL

DANIEL DAY-LEWIS
NINE *obvious win*
ROBERT DOWNEY JR
SHERLOCK HOLMES *my pick*

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

UP *haven’t seen yet, has been on my Netflix queue forever, obvious win*
FANTASTIC MR. FOX *would be nice if it did win*
 
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
 
BROKEN EMBRACES (SPAIN) *most likely will win*
THE WHITE RIBBON (GERMANY) *my pick, I really want to see this*

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A
MOTION PICTURE

PENÉLOPE CRUZ
NINE *most likely will win*
MO’NIQUE
PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL PUSH BY SAPPHIRE *wildcard, she may win*

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A
MOTION PICTURE

STANLEY TUCCI
THE LOVELY BONES *he may win, although I don’t think he should*
CHRISTOPH WALTZ
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS *my pick, he already got best actor at Cannes*

BEST DIRECTOR – MOTION PICTURE

JAMES CAMERON
AVATAR  * most likely to win*
QUENTIN TARANTINO
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS *my pick, fingers crossed*

BEST SCREENPLAY – MOTION PICTURE

NEILL BLOMKAMP, TERRI TATCHELL
DISTRICT 9 *I really want this to win, such a brillant film*
NANCY MEYERS
IT’S COMPLICATED *I really dislike these old people, rom-coms but for some reason she wins*

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE – MOTION PICTURE

KAREN O, CARTER BURWELL
WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE *would be super rad to win, I just downloaded it*

BEST ORIGINAL SONG – MOTION PICTURE

“WINTER” — BROTHERS
Music by: U2 Lyrics by: Bono *lame but u2 are shoe-ins*

BEST TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA

BIG LOVE (HBO)  *I was rooting for BL but last season’s plotline began to feel too soap opera-ish*
MAD MEN (AMC) *hopefully they will take it again this year*
 
BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES –DRAMA

JANUARY JONES
MAD MEN *I really want her to win*
ANNA PAQUIN
TRUE BLOOD  *however, Vampires are taking over*

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES – DRAMA

JON HAMM
MAD MEN  *he was robbed last year*

BEST TELEVISION SERIES – COMEDY OR MUSICAL

30 ROCK (NBC)  *no brainer*
GLEE (FOX)  *could be a contender*

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION SERIES –COMEDY OR MUSICAL

TINA FEY
30 ROCK *no competition*

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A TELEVISION SERIES –COMEDY OR MUSICAL

ALEC BALDWIN
30 ROCK  *my pick*
DAVID DUCHOVNY
CALIFORNICATION  *there seems to be a pattern of trading off every year*

BEST MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

GREY GARDENS (HBO) *the only mini-series I have ever watched*

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION
PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

DREW BARRYMORE
GREY GARDENS  *my pick, because I love her*
JOAN ALLEN
GEORGIA O’KEEFFE  *she’s amazing*

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A MINI-SERIES OR MOTION
PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

JEREMY IRONS
GEORGIA O’KEEFFE  *no idea but I adore Jeremy*

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A
SERIES, MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION
 
CHLOË SEVIGNY
BIG LOVE  *highly unlikely*

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE IN A SERIES,
MINI-SERIES OR MOTION PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION

NEIL PATRICK HARRIS
HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER  *wishful thinking, I just would love to hear his fab speech*

Well, that’s my 2 cents! Thursday my Mom is coming out, we are going to the Newport Beach Holiday Boat Parade and Friday we are going to Paramount to see 2012.

The wheels on the bus go Fart, fart, fart!

Sorry I couldn’t think of a decent title and I am currently watching the Simpsons. We spent another fun-filled weekend in Apple Valley at my Mom’s. It was cold but it didn’t hail or rain. We had fun, and my Mom and Antz installed a  toilet *titilating, I know*. I am so stoked to try out our new fancy-pants camera. We went to the Atwater Village Tree Lighting Ceremony on Friday. Antz and I were sitting on the clueless couch trying to figure out the setting for the lens. We managed a few decent ones

We mastered the blurry portrait.

And now, the debut of my weekly belly photos, Antz made my sweet sign of course.

Top 3

My favorite one 🙂
I look summer-ry but it is freezing in L.A. and I had goosebumps! I went to my first prenatal yoga class last week. It was rad but I was so stiff and I everyone in my class was in their 30th week! I am going on Mondays and Wednesdays.
Thursday we are going to Paramount to see The Lovely Bones. I liked the book, not sold on the cast yet, but I do like Saoirse Ronan. We saw Precious last Monday, it was OK but the montages were corny and the whole plot pissed me off more than it made me feel empathy. Monique and Paula Patton were A-Maz-ing!
I am still looking for a French class and I am in search of a gnarly mobile. It’s a tough choice! My top 5 soon to come.
Adieu mon amis

The latest Baby Dance Sensation

If I knew how, I would put Single Ladies *by Pomplamoose* on this video. We saw Dr. Teng last Thursday and she told us all was lovely and we won’t see her again until January. We have a nuchal translucency screening next Tuesday. Totally freaked out about it after reading all the pamphlets the nurse gave me.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=7657855&server=vimeo.com&show_title=1&show_byline=1&show_portrait=0&color=&fullscreen=1
11 weeks from liz hall on Vimeo.

The latest bebe dancing sensation. I have a bad case of the sniffles and sneezes. I am trying hard to not get sick, particularly so close to Turkey day! So after seeing the wonderful Fantastic Mr Fox, I felt totally nostalgic for The Royal Tenenbaums. Brilliant cast, kick ass soundtrack, best usage of 1970’s style New York Gypsy cabs…so yummy!

How rad would that wallpaper be in our bebe’s nursery?! We went to our good friend’s *not so very* surprise dinner party and tonight we had thai with Antz sister. My ligament still hurts but walking helps. Antz has almost all of next week off. He has been Mr Fix-it around the house.

Our poor stairs, the gardener breaks the tile bringing up his mower and the foundation moves quite a bit, so…

After

What a huge improvement, the problem is, the gardener will most likely crack the new tiles on Monday and our foundation still moves. He also cleaned out the spiders from the garage and made it actually not feel creepy to stand in it. My husband rules!
Bon nuit!