Johnny wuz robbed

Aw, man. Seriously, sixth effing place? That just wasn't right at all. And how gracious was he in accepting it, and asking the audience to calm down? I was incredibly impressed with him as a skater tonight, and as a person. Well, I mean, he's fabulous, but tonight he was fabulous. He skated better than he ever has, and I think his artistry in the routine was far and above the others.
( Men's free skate )

Reel catch-up

This week has been devoted to catching up a bit on some of the Oscar nominated films. I still have quite a few to go, and one I don't want to see at all (The Blind Side, don't EVEN get me started on that), but I'm more caught up this year than I have been for well over a decade. A lot of that has to do with the types of films being nominated this year -- I still don't quite get the whole 10 films for best picture, but at least they have finally thrown a bone to the brilliance of Pixar, which they should have done years ago, most especially for Wall-E.

I've watched all of the nominees for best animated. I still seethe over the whole treatment of animation as a separate category, as if it's not a real fucking movie, but seething doesn't change anything. This year, even though you know Up is going to win, all the movies for animation are amazing and fantastic. I loved 9 with all my heart -- if you haven't seen it, please, please rent it. And watch it on a hi-def TV because you will not believe your eyes at how gorgeous it is. I also adored Coraline -- sooo charming with some really genuinely creepy moments.

Today was A Single Man and Inglourious Basterds, which probably sounds like the strangest combination. The latter was a piece of crap which was pretty much only worth watching for Melanie Laurent and Christoph Waltz (I swear if I hear one more person call him Christopher I will blow a gasket), who were both aces. I have no words for A Single Man. Other than brilliant.

And okay, with all due respect to my beloved Jeff Bridges and to Jeremy Renner, I think Colin Firth blows everyone out of the water. He gives a master class in acting throughout the film. I didn't think I could love Tom Ford more, but the guy is just freakishly talented in so many things. I can't wait to see what he does next.

Next I'm steeling myself to watch Precious this weekend. I know it's going to require quite a bit of running from the room and peeking around the corner. But I do want to see that. There's still Up in the Air, too. So little time, so many movies. I went to a theatre I haven't been to before, a newish one up by Northgate Mall. To my extreme surprise, they have a Five Guys hamburger shop in the building right next to the theatre. My heart nearly burst from joy -- I had no idea they had expanded around the country and outside the Washington DC area. That was one of the first things I demanded of Keith during my visit over the holidays -- I said we had to go to Five Guys at least once. I've even written Five Guys into one of the X-Files Mulder/Skinner stories, many years ago. And now they're here in my city! Awesome, truly awesome.