In fair Verona, where we lay our scene...



Photo by Eugene Sribnyi


Last night I went to see Romeo and Juliet performed by the State Ballet Theater of Russia.

It was an utter delight.

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The British are such a delight. Take a look at this ad for visual awareness and take the test.



How did you do?

AND DO NOT READ THE COMMENTS BEFORE WATCHING THE VIDEO!

You can ring my bell.

All of this "Stuff Girls Say," "Stuff White Girls Say to Black Girls," "Stuff Gay Guys Living in Georgia Say" (read: lots of Julia Sugarbaker quotes) has been making the rounds, but none so marvelous as this: the wit and witticism of the fabulous Dowager Countess of Grantham.

Delight in it.



"I feel as if I were on stage at the Gaiety."

Movie day, all day long.

It's after 2AM and I just got back from my annual Oscar-ready day at the Waterfront in Pittsburgh. Here's a quick rundown of what I saw.

Hugo

This is Martin Scorcese's love letter to film, and what a grand and glorious Valentine it is. It's so touching and really beautiful to look at. Also, it leads the pack for nominations, so I got to cross 11 items off of my list, which was terribly fun.

Albert Nobbs

I expected to like this more than I did. I suppose I heard "butler" and thought "Downton Abbey!" It's not really that kind of story. Glenn Close and Janet McTeer were amazing, but when are they not? I liked it, but I didn't love it. However, watching it let me complete my first full category: Best Supporting Actress.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy

Oh wow, this movie was so good. I'm really disappointed it didn't get a Best Picture nomination. It was, by far, my favorite film of the day. The cast is crazy good. The story is amazing and so multi-faceted. It's a spy story, but not an in-your-face one like the Bourne stories. It's based on a John le Carre book so it's a slow burn spy story and it's so satisfying. Some reviews have been saying it's hard to follow (in fact, an iPhone app I have that gives you good times to leave the theater for a bathroom break listed this film as being too confusing to suggest bathroom breaks) but that's baloney. Just pay careful attention and you'll have no trouble understanding everything that's going on. A woman sitting behind me in the theater turned to her companion halfway through the film and said, "This movie is terrible. I have no idea what's going on." I don't know what her deal was, but she must have been daydreaming or something because it's not like this movie is Syriana* or something. Just pay attention and you'll be fine. And it's so, so good.

The Iron Lady

I should tread carefully here because my friend Eric, who is both ultra-conservative and madly in love with Ms. Streep (as in, he sees her as his future first lady when he one day leads the Republican party to victory and a return to the glory days of the Reagan administration), will harangue me over dinner at Trivia on Monday, but I didn't really care for this film. Again, Meryl Streep was amazing, but when is she not? And it's another one of those situations where the character is not created by the actress; it's an impression of a real person. It was an excellent impression, but I wasn't captured by the events going on in Thatcher's life. It seemed more like a documentary retelling, not a story, like the way Ray was. Or maybe it just suffered by following on the heels of Tinker Tailor. I don't have a beef with Streep's nomination, but this movie didn't do it for me. But I was able to complete both Best Actress and Best Make-up with this, so that's something.


*Syriana is either very confusing or butt-numbingly dull, because for the first time, I left a movie theater confused about the storylines of several of the characters, a couple of whom I actually could not tell apart. I saw it in New York, and as the crowd was filing out, I heard a woman tell her boyfriend, "I think that movie outsmarted me," to which he replied, "Yeah, I think the movie won."

I beg to differ. Nobody in that theater won. Nobody.

Just replace "toddler" with "four-year-old niece."

Ready Player One

I just started reading this book and I’m loving it so much. It’s set in a dystopian future where an eccentric billionaire video game designer, who had been a teenager in the 1980s and thus devoted to that decade, has recently died. In his will, he leaves his massive fortune to the first person who can find an Easter egg that he’s hidden in his most popular game.

If you either can’t remember or didn’t care for the 80s, you might still enjoy this book as a complicated logic puzzle of an adventure story, despite the fact that you don’t understand the Atari and Heathers references. But if you love the 80s, if you think John Hughes could do no wrong except for that one time when he clearly should have had Andie choose Duckie, if you immediately get the “cats and dogs living together, mass hysteria!” quote in the first chapter, if you still carry a watermelon for Dirty Dancing and you know all the lyrics to Devo’s Whip It, then this book is so very for you.

I'm two chapters in and the main character is watching old Family Ties episodes. It's rad. Enjoy.

I'm rooting for The Artist, but you probably already knew that.

Just hand over that Best Picture statuette, please.

The Oscar nominations were just announced this morning. My oh my, I have been waiting for this.

I am...

Delighted: The Artist got all the noms I predicted for it and more.

Pleasantly surprised: about the nominations for Gary Oldman, Jonah Hill, and Melissa McCarthy.

Astonished: not to see Michael Fassbender somewhere on this list since he’s been in 53 movies this year. I was beginning to think I couldn't escape him.

Amazed: at how many nominations Hugo got despite its relatively small buzz leading up to the awards.

Shocked: that Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close got a nom for Supporting Actor let alone Best Picture.

Relieved: so, so relieved that I won’t have to see Carnage. Sorry talented actors who starred in it, but if you want me to be excited about your movie, don't work with Roman Polanski.

Disgusted: that I will now have to see The Tree of Life. I loathe Terrence Malick.

Disappointed: that Ewan McGregor wasn’t noticed for the finest performance I’ve ever seen him give, in The Beginners.

Avoiding: my sister Jen who will surely be furious that Leonardo Dicaprio was snubbed for his role in J. Edgar, despite the fact that she hasn’t yet seen it.

Excited: to start overdosing on movies! I have seen 4 of the 9 Best Picture nominees, so I have a long way to go.

Let the Oscar readiness begin!