Choose Change

Hi! So, I know I didn’t post last week but this will be a ridiculously lazy post.  It kind of matches my personality lately.  I have been lazy about a lot of things.  I have been far too loose on my diet and even though I’ve been exercising, I haven’t been giving it my all.  That changes today, though.  I am going to do better.  I’ve decided not to weigh again until I’m completely done with the Insanity challenge.  When that’s over, which crazily will be next Friday, I’ll get my weight and all my measurements so I can see my complete results and so I can see how much work I need to do to reach my small goal.  I know Insanity works because even though the scale isn’t showing it because I’ve been eating too much, people have commented on how much leaner I look.  I have to figure what to do next.  I think I’ll mix Insanity in with running and maybe some dance classes or something.  I may be involved in some sort of mud run obstacle course this Saturday in Birmingham…if I do that, I’ll definitely have pics.

I’ve been on my own nerves lately because I make so many mistakes.  I know that I am the only one that can change the things I don’t like about myself.  There are certain things in life that you can’t control.  There are other things that you can change but you have to make the decision to work your butt off.  I’ve heard a lot of folks say that they believe people can’t change.  I used to think that too but it’s a bit more complicated than that.  People can change but YOU CAN’T CHANGE them.  If I want someone to be better, it doesn’t matter how hard I try to change them or how much I hope that they’ll be different, they won’t be unless they make the choice to do it.  It’s a hard lesson to learn sometimes.  I know that when I was extraordinarily unhealthy, the people closest to me probably wanted to help me change but it’s something I had to do for myself.  I guess I’m saying that because I may stumble, but today is a new day and I’m changing constantly and whatever obstacles I face, I’m determined to defeat them. I owe it to myself to do the best I can in every aspect of my life.

I don’t have a recipe because I suck but I did bake a cake and cookies during my absence from the blog.  The cake was delicious.  The cookies were OK.  There’s a picture of it mixed in below with pictures from different events I’ve experienced the past few weeks (wrestling, Oscar night, and the Pink concert which was amazing). I’ll do better next post, I swear.  Have a good week!

“Ain’t no talkin’ to this man…ain’t no pretty other side…” - Let Him Fly.

Oscar Week!

Happy President’s Day, y’all.  If you are like me, you had to work despite the holiday.  Oh well, I am just grateful to have a job, I guess.  I’m fighting off a bit of a sinus problem today.  It’s been creeping up slowly on me for several days and I’ve got quite a cough today.  I rarely get sick so I shouldn’t complain.  I should never complain because overall, things are usually pretty good but the fact that I shouldn’t complain has never really stopped me.  I’m pretty pooped today but I have a lot to do so I need to just suck it up.  I didn’t weigh on Saturday like normal because I had a four day weekend last week due to the trip to Nashville with my Dad.  I knew I wouldn’t like the results so I thought I’d give myself a break.  I’ll weigh this Saturday to gauge how much extra work I need to do.  I completed the first phase of Insanity last week and began the new one on Saturday.  The second month is even more insane than the last.  The videos are longer and the moves are more intense.  I am pretty sore today so I think that means it’s working.  If I can stick with that and stop eating too much on the weekends, I feel like the weight would come off but I don’t always do what I’m supposed to.

Dad and I had a great time at WWE Monday Night Raw.  I admit that even though I won’t be recording it on my DVR any time soon, it was pretty entertaining.  It’s the male equivalent of a soap opera.  It was fun to get into it with the crowd and I was excited to see the Rock.  Unfortunately, I don’t have my camera cord so I can’t post pictures yet.  I’m hoping to get them on Facebook this week so maybe I can share a couple in the next couple weeks.  I won’t have a blog post next week because I won’t have time.  I’m spending the night in Birmingham Sunday night for the Oscars, so I’ll post again on March 4th with pictures of wrestling, new weight and measurement updates, Oscar reaction, and pictures from the Pink concert I’m going to.  So, I’m slacking next week but I’ll make sure to fill up the next post.

I kind of cheated this week and I didn’t provide a full recipe.  I’m from the South and I adore okra, fried up in a cast iron skillet with bacon grease.  My mother is an okra frying champion and I also love the way my grandmother makes it.  It’s crispy and salty and just plain delicious.  It’s also terrible for you.  I don’t think I realized the you could have okra if it wasn’t fried until a couple years ago.  The problem is that okra can be slimy and nobody wants that so it’s kind of tricky to prepare it in a healthy way and make it taste good.  You can prepare it in a skillet with non-stick cooking spray but I find it easier to bake it.  I bought it frozen, put it on a cookie sheet sprayed with Olive Oil flavored spray, tossed the frozen okra on the sheet, sprayed it with the non-stick spray, put a little salt, pepper and garlic powder and popped it in the oven.  Since it’s from frozen, it takes time.  However, since it’s in the oven, you can fold laundry, catch an episode of Modern Family or something else while you wait.  After about 15-20 minutes, I tossed it with the spray again and added more salt.  I put it in for a bit longer and then when it’s fully cooked, I turn the broiler on.  I burned the first batch I made so make sure to watch it closely.  I think no more than 2-3 minutes is enough.  No, it’s not the bacon-fat ridden taste of fried heaven you are used to but if you make it right, it’s crispy and has good flavor.  It’s worth a shot at least.  I liked it. 

It’s OSCAR week and Jordan and I are totally ready.  We have seen the movies in the major categories and I’ve seen a few in the minor categories.  I hope to catch at least a couple more of those this week.  The last one we saw was Amour.  I pretty much hate this movie. It is nominated for Best Picture, Director (Michael Haneke), Actress (Emmanuelle Riva) and Original Screenplay (Michael Haneke).  I think the nomination for actress is well deserved but that’s it.  It was in French which wasn’t the problem at all but I thought it was worth mentioning.  The movie had two sides, painstakingly boring and tragically sad.  Seriously, it had one of the most disturbingly sad scenes I’ve ever seen.  When it wasn’t sad, it was so slow.  There were long drawn out moments of scenery and unnecessarily long moments of silence.  I had to pry my eyes open to stay awake.  I also saw Prometheus which isn’t nominated in a major category, just visual effects. I didn’t really care for it, either.  The visual effects were great (good make up and a gruesome alien baby birth scene) but it’s good thing that’s all it was nominated for because the dialogue was predictable and a good portion of the movie was spent watching the head of a decapitated robot talking.  It wasn’t my favorite.

So, I guess I could tell you my favorites and then my predictions…if you want to know…if not, feel free to skip ahead.  My opinions on who will win have changed a bit since the nominations first came out…and they may change again.

Actor-  Favorite-Bradley Cooper Prediction- Daniel Day-Lewis

Actress- Favorite-Jennifer Lawrence Prediction-Jennifer Lawrence

Supporting Actor- Favorite-Robert De Niro and Christoph Waltz Prediction- Christoph Waltz

Supporting Actress- Favorite- Sally Field Prediction- Anne Hathaway

Directing- David O. Russell-Silver Linings Playbook Prediction- Steven Spielberg- Lincoln

Adapted Screenplay- Favorite- Argo and Silver Linings Playbook Prediction- Argo

Original Screenplay- Favorite-Django Unchained Prediction- Zero Dark Thirty

Best Picture (I’ll give you an order of my favorites)… 1.) Silver Linings Playbook 2) Argo 3) Django Unchained 4) Lincoln 5) Zero Dark Thirty 6) Les Miserables 7) Life of Pi 8) Beasts of the Southern Wild 9) Amour

Prediction for Best Picture- Argo

That’s all.

I will post in a couple weeks!

Bye!

“And it would be a fine proposition, 

If I was a stupid girl…” Girl at Home-Taylor Swift

Shrimptastic

Hey y’all.  I know I’m not the first or the millionth person to say this today but I seriously think the day after the Super Bowl should be a national holiday.  I am not a fan of professional football but I am fan of Super Bowl food.  I know this is supposed to be about weight loss but you certainly couldn’t tell I was on a diet last night.  My mother really out did herself.  When I got to dinner, it was like a festival of bacon.  She made cheeseburger sliders with bacon, potato skins, pigs in a blanket, wings, ribs.  Seriously guys, I know everyone thinks their mom is the best cook in the world but you are totally wrong, unless my mom is your mom.  It was worth every gluttonous calorie.  By the description of food I had, it’s not hard to know why I had no weight loss this weekend when I weighed.  I hadn’t gained which I consider a success.  I’ve been kind of loose on the weekends and it must come to an end.  I am not going to post next week because…well…I’m almost embarrassed to say…my Dad and I are travelling to Nashville on Monday to go to Bridgestone Arena…to see WWE Monday Night Raw.  I’m not what one would call a wrestling fan but my Dad is so that’s what I got him for Christmas.  I admitted that to not only tell you’ll there won’t be a post next Monday but also so I could say that I know my diet won’t be great on that Monday and Tuesday.  Even though the weight loss momentum I had has been put on a temporary pause,  I’m doing my best otherwise and hopefully the hiccup won’t last long.  On a positive note, I have now lost a total of 3.25” after beginning Insanity.  I have 8.2 pounds I need to lose to reach my first goal of 2013.  Persevere y’all.  You can do it.

This week I am sharing a baked version of Popcorn Shrimp from the Hungry Girl. The Hungry Girl loves to use Fiber One cereal for her fake frying.  Let me just say, I was skeptical because Fiber One cereal looks like rabbit poop and tastes like dirt. No disrespect to the folks at Fiber One…they are doing great things for the fiber needing community.  I decided to give it a fair shot.  Normally, if I have to get a kitchen appliance out and plug it in to make the recipe, I avoid it because I’m lazy.  The popcorn shrimp required a finely ground Fiber One cereal to act as the breading.  Rather than making only one serving’s worth, I made a large batch so if I want to make other recipes with it, I can just grab it from the fridge.  I think it has a pretty good shelf life…let’s be honest, there’s probably not a lot of fresh ingredients in the cereal to go bad.  I used Egg Beaters to coat the shrimp and then shook them in a baggie with the cereal.  I added salt, pepper, garlic powder and chili powder to the Fiber One to give it some flavor.  The shrimp was crispy and had great flavor.  It took me more than five minutes so I probably won’t make it much  but it was quite good.  I made it with some sautéed veggies. It’s not pretty but I enjoyed it.

As the Oscars loom closer, Jordan and I are trying to wrap up our adventure.  We have actually had an easier time this year than ever before.  We’ve had to go to Atlanta, Huntsville and Chattanooga before to see all the movies before the show but we managed to stay between Tuscaloosa and Birmingham this year.  A big shout out to the Edge theatre near his house because they listen to requests for movies and they are great about having ones that are hard to find.  We were able to see the Master yesterday which wasn’t nominated for Best Picture but did have acting nominees.  Joaquin Phoenix is nominated for Actor, Philip Seymour Hoffman for Supporting Actor and Amy Adams for Supporting Actress.  This movie had potential. It had several good moments.  I guess agree with the acting nominations and I definitely agree with the fact that it wasn’t nominated for Best Picture.  It was about an alcoholic, ex-sailor who encounters a non-religious evangelist of sorts in Philip Seymour Hoffman and they set on a journey to fix people by connecting them to their spirit…awaken them.  It was too long and at the end, I don’t have any idea what I’m supposed to take away from it.  

My mother said that Moonrise Kingdom was the dumbest movie she’d ever seen.  At first I resisted that statement thinking surely I could think of a dumber one but after filtering out movies that were intentionally dumb but in a funny way, I really couldn’t disagree with her.  Maybe in some pretentious land of coolness this movie has an epic-ness that I just don’t understand but overall, I have no idea what this movie was supposed to accomplish.  The cast was amazing…Bruce Willis, Ed Norton, Bill Murray and others but man, was it weird.  It’s only nominated for Original Screenplay (Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola) so I’m not sure if the pool for that was small this year or what.  I guess if I had to say something positive about it, it would be that it is, in fact, original.  It’s about two misfit kids falling in love and “getting married” and taking a trip in the woods…or something.  I pretty much hated it.

The Invisible War is not in a major category but I thought it was worth mentioning.  It’s nominated for best Documentary and it brings to light the horrors of sexual assault that women sometimes face in the military.  This movie is well done and highlights the problems that women soldiers face.  It also calls for action in the way the military handles these situations.  It’s sad but eye-opening and at the very least, food for thought.  It’s the only documentary I’ve seen so far so I can’t speak to the quality of the others.

That’s it.

I hope you all have a wonderful week.

Hopefully I won’t get hit over the head with a folding chair next week.

Talk with you soon.

Bye.

“You’re a lovely creation, I’d like to think that I am too.” Love On The Rocks-Sara Bareilles

Snack Attack

Greetings y’all.  It’s Monday again. In fact, it’s the last Monday in January.  I have got to stop wishing time away because it seems like just yesterday it was New Year’s Day.  The immediate New Year’s Resolution I had is going well, though.  I lost 2 more pounds last week.  I have lost 7 of the 15.2 goal with 8.2 left to go.    Since I started Insanity, I’ve also lost a total of 2.75 inches so things are going well.  I ate too much between Saturday evening and Sunday night but hopefully I’ll work it off this week.  I could have done better but it’s really the first time since the beginning of the year that I’ve slipped.  The point is that dusted myself off and I’m right back on.  We all fail in something every day. You just have to get back on track.  Besides, if you were faced with something called pizza dip and then chicken stuffed with prosciutto and cheese, you’d cheat too.

Other than binge eating, my biggest problem in the diet game is completely mental.  I have to convince myself that I’m not hungry.  I do this by making sure that I never go more than a couple hours without eating.  In order to do this and not balloon up, you have to have snacks that are healthy and filling.  This first image is of cucumbers and hummus.  I love bread and hummus together but the bread is loaded with carbs and the hummus can be a bit fattening so having both isn’t something that’s recommended.  So, we must make sacrifices and I find this snack to be a good compromise.  I found these individual servings of hummus which are great because the risk of eating too much is diminished.  I used a cucumber instead of bread because you can have as much as you want for zero points and they are pretty filling.  I also had ham on the side which is of course optional but I needed some protein.  I’ve had this several times and I’m not tired of it yet so that’s good.

This picture is very simple but something not to forget.  Salsa is something that you can have unlimited amounts of so I eat it a lot.  I also discovered recently that guacamole and low fat sour cream aren’t too bad in points either so I created a little snack fiesta with Baked Tostitos Scoops.  I mix all three together and it’s quite tasty.  You have to be careful with the guacamole and sour cream though and only have a couple tablespoons of each.  My problem is I want to eat the whole container.  Just make sure if anything has fat in it, you only eat the recommended serving.

So, as many of you know, I’m addicted to Pinterest.  The next series of images will tell a tragic but quite funny story of a cookie project gone horribly wrong.  The first picture is how the cookies I attempted are supposed to look.  The pictures after that are several attempts that I made to mimic the image.  I got Cassandra to make one and hers at least had good shape.  You take sugar cookie dough, shape it like a heart and leave a hole in the middle.  After that, you put Jolly Ranchers in the middle to create a stained-glass effect.  The cookie kept creeping over the candy.  I kept making them bigger and bigger thinking that would help…but it made it worse.  The last picture was the closest I got but I gave up because after over 2 hours of trial and error, I was over it.  I should’ve known a project to celebrate Valentine’s day would turn sour.

 That’s all I’ve got today.

 Hopefully my weigh in Saturday won’t be too harsh after my weekend indulgence.

Wish me luck.

Have a great week.

Bye.

“It’s getting late

To give you up.” Toxic-Britney Spears

Buffalo Style

Hello, y'all. I hope your Monday was great. I know I usually post on Monday but stuff happens and it's Tuesday.  I'm behind so I will jump right in. I have been doing Insanity for a little over a week now and I took my measurements this weekend. So far, I've lost 2 pounds and 2.25" total. This means that I've lost 5 of the 15.2 pounds I need to lose as my first 2013 goals. 5 down, 10.2 to go. I am satisfied with these results. Insanity is tough but effective and I'm being a good girl when it comes to food. I won't use the word perfect in reference to my behavior on the weekends but I'm pretty close...at least when it comes to calorie intake. I am definitely going to keep up with the results and fill you in. I hope whatever life changes you are determined to accomplish in 2013 are on track.

The star of this week's recipe chit chat is a Light Ranch that I've discovered. It's got a buffalo flavor and I'm quite fond of it. In the first pictures, I take a Morning Star "chicken" patty and make a buffalo chicken sandwich out of it. No, those patties don't taste like chicken but when you add bread, dressing and fat free potato chips, it's quite tasty. I'm even more proud of the second concoction that I came up with. I call these Buffalo Chicken Bites and I made them up all by myself. I took canned chicken (if you aren't into that, you could use deli meat or pulled rotisserie chicken), mixed it with one serving of the Light Buffalo Ranch and put a dollop into baked tortilla scoops. I added one drop of hot sauce to each scoop for a little extra kick. I found it quite delicious!

In Oscar news, I watched Beasts of the Southern Wild this week. I like to say that this movie is this year's Tree of Life. Honestly, it's not nearly as trippy and hard to follow but I draw the parallel because there are several bizarre moments in the movie that I truly don't understand. The premise is interesting because it's based on a real group of people that live in a rural, mostly flooded part of the Mississippi Delta. The movie did prompt me to do research and it's definitely molded after a real group of people. I discovered that there is a documentary about these people and quite honestly, I think I would've rather seen that. The story is sad and very raw in it's scenery, make up and content. The young girl in the movie is fantastic but overall, the point of the movie escapes me. It's weird and gross and wasn't my favorite.

The Avengers wasn't nominated in a major category but I thought I'd give it a shout out because I've seen it and it's nominated for visual effects and I think it's deserving. I don't always run to go see movies like this but I wanted to mention it because it was hilarious and fun and I'd be happy if it got Oscar love...even if it is just for visual effects.

Lastly, I wanted to let it be known that I have now seen Silver Linings Playbook twice and I love it even more than I did after the first time. It's precious. Go see it. Seriously, get dressed right now and go watch it.

I'll wrap it up out of laziness. Have a good week!

"Another day has almost come and gone,
Can't imagine what else could go wrong.
Sometimes I'd like to hide away somewhere and lock the door.
A single battle lost but not the war.

'Cause tomorrow's another day
and I'm thirsty anyway
So bring on the rain." Bring on the Rain-Jo Dee Messina

Insane

Happy Monday, everyone! I will jump right in because I have a lot to put in here. First of all, I weighed Saturday and I was down 2.8 pounds! I was very pleased with this and relieved because I knew I had done well.  This means I have 12.4 pounds to go in my initial goal to lose 15.2 pounds and get back to my lowest weight.  It may take several weeks to do that but there is no race; as long as I stay with it, I’m fine with whatever pace my body wants.  I also started the workout program, Insanity on Saturday. I am normally not inclined to trust programs like this but I tried a boot camp a few months ago that I loved and my roommate said it was similar and very effective.  I went ahead and decided to try it because I needed something new and I like the idea of not having to think about it.  This program tells me what to do every day.  It’s a 60 day program.  I intend to complete the 60 days and then if I have had results, I’ll continue to do it but incorporate it with exercise that isn’t so hard on the joints.  I like it a lot.  It’s difficult but I felt great when I got done.  I will say though that if you have not been working out for a significant amount of time, you should definitely NOT do Insanity.  This program is for people who are in at least decent shape.  I am sore but I like that because it means it’s working.  He’s strict about form and safety which is also a plus. I took my weight and measurements so I could monitor my results. The recipe I shared above is for tomato soup.  When I was little I thought I hate tomatoes and tomato soup.  As I’ve gotten older, my tastes have developed.  I now enjoy cooked, green and sun dried tomatoes.  I thought I’d try tomato soup.  This is a Hungry Girl recipe.  It uses hot sauce which kicked the flavor notch up a bit.  It was quite tasty and I paired it with toast that I slathered with Sun Dried Tomato Laughing Cow Cheese.  It was a nice pairing.  I’d make it again, for sure.  I eat a lot of soup…it’s usually much lower in calories.

Since the last time I blogged, Alabama won its 15^th national championship against Notre Dame.  It is a wonderful time to be an Alabama fan.  I know everyone in the country is tired of Bama but who cares, it feels great to be a winner!

Jordan and I have started our Operation Oscar for this year.  We see all of the movies nominated for Oscars in the major categories and this year we got quite a head start before the nominations came out.  I’ll give a brief little review of each one, in case you’re interested.  We only have a few more to watch before we are done.  The show is on February 24^th and after the Golden Globes last night, I’m anxious to see how it turns out!

Argo is my second favorite movie so far.  Its nominations include: Best Picture, Supporting Actor (Alan Arkin), Adapted Screenplay (Chris Terrio).  This is an intense movie laced with funny moments about a real and serious situation that happened during the Iran hostage crisis.  It takes history and makes it interesting. Ben Affleck was not only grossly snubbed for Director, he could have been nominated as an actor as well.  I’m not biased.  I love Ben Affleck but he hasn’t always been the best actor in the world.  This movie is great and I’m glad the Golden Globes recognized him because the Academy was wrong on this.  This movie also included John Goodman who was amazing and one of my all-time favorite actors.  

Flight has two nominations: Actor (Denzel Washington) and Original Screenplay (John Gatins).  I would say that these nominations could’ve gone either way.  The movie was pretty good but when you compare Denzel Washington’s performance to some of the other men in the category, I don’t think he was as good.  The movie has a really intense scene in the beginning with a plane situation that will make you think twice before stepping onto your next flight.  Other than that, I’d say it was good, not great.  It’s about a drunk who gets in trouble and I prefer Denzel Washington in his more bada** roles. 

I could probably write a book on the commentary I have for Django Unchained but nobody has that kind of time.  It is nominated for Best Picture, Supporting Actor (Christoph Waltz), Original Screenplay (Quentin Tarantino).  In summary, it’s about a freed slave that is on a quest with a bounty hunter to find and rescue his wife from a heinous slave owner.  This movie is like classic Quentin Tarantino on crack.  It is by far the most gruesome, violent and uncomfortable Tarantino movie I’ve ever seen.  If you don’t like him, his movies, blood and guts or gun violence, you should, under NO circumstances see this movie.  My mother and Jordan despised this movie.  Having said all of that, I did not hate it, I LOVED about 60% of it and wanted to crawl under my chair and hide the other 40%.  I believe his movies are a commentary but I do know that the commentary he intends is lost on many audiences.  It is not lost on me. It is violent and racist much like the actual act of slavery was and you are not supposed to feel comfy cozy while watching it.  I can see both sides of the fence.  I do think he was also robbed as director.  I would say however that I don’t like his attitude about some things.  He’s very quick to dismiss discussions on violence in movies and I think he should take a more diplomatic approach.  I agree that violence in movies is not the reason people are crazy but I think they are a good starting place for dialogue and he always shuts down.  In the end, I think he’s a disturbed and at times, quite rude genius. As a side note, I’m obsessed with Christoph Waltz and wish he was in every movie. Lastly, I always think Leo is robbed and this year is no exception.  I am DEFINITELY biased about him though, we go way back. 

Ahhh, Les Miserables, the movie I feel like I should be more attached to.  It’s nominated for Best Picture, Actor (Hugh Jackman) and Supporting Actress (Anne Hathaway).  This movie was all about “moments” to me.  Anne Hathaway’s performance of “I Dreamed A Dream” was pretty stunning and brought tears to my eyes.  Unfortunately, Russell Crowe’s voice also brought tears to my eyes…and not in a good way.  The movie was WAY too long for me but that doesn’t say much, though because I think most movies are too long.  I actually downloaded a lot of the songs and though the movie looked amazing but overall, I was pretty bored.  Like I said, there were lots of great moments that I will probably look up on YouTube a few more times in life but I don’t see me watching it in its entirety ever again.  I have respect for the show but it’s not my favorite.  I have seen the play and there are parts of it that seem silly to me and it’s just not my favorite.  I don’t want to take away from Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway though, they were good.

Life of Pi is this year’s Avatar minus the hype and James Cameron.  It’s nominated for Best Picture, Director (Ang Lee) and Adapted Screenplay (David Magee).  I compare it to Avatar only because, in my opinion, it’s greatest attribute is the beauty of the scenery.  The special animated effects in this movie were gorgeous.  The story is cool, too and I enjoyed the movie overall.  I wasn’t blown away by the story but I liked it.

The Impossible holds only one nomination and that is for best actress (Naomi Watts).  I’d say I made it about 10 minutes before I started a full on, heaving cry that I maintained throughout the entire movie.  This is about the horrific tsunami that came from the Indian Ocean in 2004 and killed 230,000 people.  It’s based on the true story of one family trying to survive and get back to each other.  I have had recurring nightmares about deadly waves my entire adult life so I was anxious about the movie.  The best way to describe it is gut-wrenching.  The horror that these people had to face was something that none of us should ever take for granted.  So many died, lost all their loved ones, their homes and they lived in pain and fear for weeks trying to figure out the details of what happened. The movie portrays this very well and I’m not sure it wasn’t slightly robbed of other nominations.  I will never watch it again but it’s beautifully made.

I cannot say enough good things about Silver Linings Playbook. Its nominations include: Best Picture, Director (David O. Russell), Actor (Bradley Cooper), Actress (Jennifer Lawrence), Supporting Actor (Robert De Niro), Supporting Actress (Jacki Weaver), and Adapted Screenplay (David O. Russell).  It’s funny, engaging and by far my favorite of the Oscar season.  When I say favorite, I mean it’s the only one I would buy so I could watch whenever I want.  It’s got Bradley Cooper who seriously could not be hotter and more adorable.  I’m also a Hunger Games freak so I was happy to see Jennifer Lawrence.  Robert De Niro was amazing as always and as a side note, Chris Tucker turns out to be a pleasant surprise in the movie. It’s about mental illness but not in a sappy way.  Loved it.

Spielberg does it again with Lincoln.  It’s loaded up with nominations: Best Picture, Director (Stephen Spielberg), Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis), Supporting Actor (Tommy Lee Jones), Supporting Actress (Sally Field), and Adapted Screenplay (Tony Kushner).  I agree with all of these nominations.  Lincoln, though in my opinion a bit long (surprise, surprise), was outstanding.  It’s not the kind of movie I’d want to curl up to on a Saturday night as those are reserved for guilty pleasures but the movie is chock full of awesome actors, interesting and lesser known facts about the time period and gripping stories.  The film came together wonderfully for me and in the end you feel triumphant and sad all at the same time.  I liked it a lot…it has probably been my third favorite so far this season.

The Sessions was solid and good but overall underwhelming.  Helen Hunt is nominated for Supporting Actress and that’s it.  I think that’s about right.  The story was certainly interesting.  It’s about a man with polio who is paralyzed from the neck down and has to rely on a giant machine for him to breathe.  He wants to experience sex and Helen Hunt’s job is to help him with that.  She does a great job and the movie wasn’t too sentimental which I like but it didn’t blow me away.  In fact, that’s all I have to say about it, I think.

Zero Dark Thirty was intense to say the least.  It’s nominated for Best Picture, Actress (Jessica Chastain) and Original Screenplay (Mark Boal).  I think the movie was good.  It was a bit long, but it was still an “edge of your seat” kind of movie.  Jessica Chastain is someone who I think will be around for a while.  She’s versatile and I’ve never seen her do a bad job (she was even good in the disaster that was the Tree of Life).  I don’t know what percentage of the movie was based in fact but it definitely brought you along for the ride on the hunt for Osama Bin Laden.  I am not as mad about the directing snub on this as I am for Argo.  I certainly think Kathryn Bigelow COULD have been nominated for best director, especially for the excruciating torture scenes but it’s not the biggest snub in history.

I know that was a lot but like I said, Jordan and I got a  huge head start.  I'll have a few more plus some preferences/predictions in the coming weeks.

I hope you all have a great week and if you made it to the end, thanks for sticking with me!

BYE!

“And I am done with my graceless heart

So tonight I’m gonna cut it out and then restart

‘Cause I like to keep my issues drawn

It’s always darkest before the dawn

Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa

Shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, shake it out, ooh whoa

And it’s hard to dance with a devil on your back

So shake him off, oh whoa…” Shake It Out-Florence+the Machine