My Choices.

Here is a list of who I think should win the Academy Award this evening. Will they? Maybe. Should they? YES.
P.S. I've seen almost everything nominated this year.

Performance by an actor in a leading role
George Clooney in "Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.)
Daniel Day-Lewis in "There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax)
Johnny Depp in "Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount)
Tommy Lee Jones in "In the Valley of Elah" (Warner Independent)
Viggo Mortensen in "Eastern Promises" (Focus Features)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Casey Affleck in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" (Warner Bros.)
Javier Bardem in "No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage)
Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Charlie Wilson's War" (Universal)
Hal Holbrook in "Into the Wild" (Paramount Vantage and River Road Entertainment)
Tom Wilkinson in "Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.)

*(Of these films, I only saw "Charlie Wilson's War," so I will abstain from a decision.)

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Cate Blanchett in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" (Universal)
Julie Christie in "Away from Her" (Lionsgate)
Marion Cotillard in "La Vie en Rose" (Picturehouse)
Laura Linney in "The Savages" (Fox Searchlight)
Ellen Page in "Juno" (A Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd Production)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Cate Blanchett in "I'm Not There" (The Weinstein Company)
Ruby Dee in "American Gangster" (Universal)
Saoirse Ronan in "Atonement" (Focus Features)
Amy Ryan in "Gone Baby Gone" (Miramax)
Tilda Swinton in "Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.)

Best animated feature film of the year
"Persepolis" (Sony Pictures Classics): Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud
"Ratatouille" (Walt Disney): Brad Bird
"Surf's Up" (Sony Pictures Releasing): Ash Brannon and Chris Buck

Achievement in art direction
"American Gangster" (Universal): Art Direction: Arthur Max; Set Decoration: Beth A. Rubino
"Atonement" (Focus Features): Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer
"The Golden Compass" (New Line in association with Ingenious Film Partners): Art Direction: Dennis Gassner; Set Decoration: Anna Pinnock
"Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount): Art Direction: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax): Art Direction: Jack Fisk; Set Decoration: Jim Erickson

Achievement in cinematography
"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" (Warner Bros.): Roger Deakins
"Atonement" (Focus Features): Seamus McGarvey
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (Miramax/Pathé Renn): Janusz Kaminski
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage): Roger Deakins
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax): Robert Elswit

*(No choice.)

Achievement in costume design
"Across the Universe" (Sony Pictures Releasing) Albert Wolsky
"Atonement" (Focus Features) Jacqueline Durran
"Elizabeth: The Golden Age" (Universal) Alexandra Byrne
"La Vie en Rose" (Picturehouse) Marit Allen
"Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" (DreamWorks and Warner Bros., Distributed by DreamWorks/Paramount) Colleen Atwood

Achievement in directing
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (Miramax/Pathé Renn), Julian Schnabel
"Juno" (A Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd Production), Jason Reitman
"Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.), Tony Gilroy
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage), Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax), Paul Thomas Anderson

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
"Atonement" (Focus Features) Dario Marianelli
"The Kite Runner" (DreamWorks, Sidney Kimmel Entertainment and Participant Productions, Distributed by Paramount Classics): Alberto Iglesias
"Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.) James Newton Howard
"Ratatouille" (Walt Disney) Michael Giacchino
"3:10 to Yuma" (Lionsgate) Marco Beltrami

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
"Falling Slowly" from "Once" (Fox Searchlight) Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and: Marketa Irglova
"Happy Working Song" from "Enchanted" (Walt Disney): Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
"Raise It Up" from "August Rush" (Warner Bros.): Music and Lyric by Jamal Joseph, Charles Mack and Tevin Thomas
"So Close" from "Enchanted" (Walt Disney): Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz
"That's How You Know" from "Enchanted" (Walt Disney): Music by Alan Menken; Lyric by Stephen Schwartz

Best motion picture of the year
"Atonement" (Focus Features) A Working Title Production: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Paul Webster, Producers
"Juno" (A Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd Production) A Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd Production: Lianne Halfon, Mason Novick and Russell Smith, Producers
"Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.) A Clayton Productions, LLC Production: Sydney Pollack, Jennifer Fox and Kerry Orent, Producers
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage) A Scott Rudin/Mike Zoss Production: Scott Rudin, Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, Producers
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax) A JoAnne Sellar/Ghoulardi Film Company Production: JoAnne Sellar, Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Lupi, Producers

Achievement in sound editing
"The Bourne Ultimatum" (Universal): Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage): Skip Lievsay
"Ratatouille" (Walt Disney): Randy Thom and Michael Silvers
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax): Christopher Scarabosio and Matthew Wood
"Transformers" (DreamWorks and Paramount in association with Hasbro): Ethan Van der Ryn and Mike Hopkins

Adapted screenplay
"Atonement" (Focus Features), Screenplay by Christopher Hampton
"Away from Her" (Lionsgate), Written by Sarah Polley
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (Miramax/Pathé Renn), Screenplay by Ronald Harwood
"No Country for Old Men" (Miramax and Paramount Vantage), Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
"There Will Be Blood" (Paramount Vantage and Miramax), Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson

Original screenplay
"Juno" (A Mandate Pictures/Mr. Mudd Production), Written by Diablo Cody
"Lars and the Real Girl" (MGM), Written by Nancy Oliver
"Michael Clayton" (Warner Bros.), Written by Tony Gilroy
"Ratatouille" (Walt Disney), Screenplay by Brad Bird; Story by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird
"The Savages" (Fox Searchlight), Written by Tamara Jenkins

Ssim.

There are things I miss.

I miss being "in love."
I miss being in a show.
I miss being sane.

And other stuff.

L

The Stage(s).

I go through stages when it comes to reading. Sometimes, I'm normal, and I can read a play or a novel and have the same amount of interest in either of them, finish them, and read something else. Sometimes, I lean more towards novels, and the thought of reading a play makes me nauseous or I get bored with keeping track of the different characters in my head and I end up wondering what it is I like about theatre in the first place, or why I persistently write the very shit I am so furious with at that moment. Other times, it is the opposite. I develop some sort of novel-ADD, prohibiting me from turning through anything that isn't clearly marked with character names or italicized text to tell me specifically what's going on. And then I remember. A couple weeks ago, one of my teachers said, "Plays are meant to be heard, not read." While I believe that's true, I also think that there is something incredible about the ability of a person (albeit a theatrical person) to pick up a dramatic text, read through it, and create a production in your head. I suppose a similar phenomenon occurs when you read a novel - you imagine what the characters look like, the color of their bedroom, etc. - but it's not the same. I believe (and it's sort of crazy) that when a playwright creates a play, the characters are thrown into existence, and that they are spiritual beings (read: ghosts), floating around, waiting to "possess" an actor; that everything I am reading was said by this person who exists in and of this play, specifically and solely. Where the play begins and ends, so does his life. All writers use things from their lives or the lives of others in creating their stories. It is a fact that there is no such thing as an original idea, just original ways of expressing said idea and, therefore, each and every event is a haunted image of something previously recognizable. If not, how would we connect, how would we relate? We would be alienated, in the Brechtian sense of the word, from the action onstage, much as we are in a great deal of musical theatre. The theatre is an elevated, modernized method of storytelling - in place of cave paintings, we have scenery; instead of an old man by the fire, we have me and you and every other actor in the world. This is the essence of my belief in the power of theatre to reach people, to change things, to speak. But, I digress. The point of all of this rambling is to simply say that, right now, the thought of reading a novel is highly unappetizing, despite the fact that I just spent $17 on a 562 page novel that will find a nice, comfortable home in the bottom of my desk drawer under a copy of Love! Valour! Compassion!.

Arrows.

sheets and sheets
and legs of journeys
intertwine and lock at night
in the black bright light

Mainly for Myself.

As much as I complain about them, I really do love the people I go to school with. I have been blessed with such amazing, talented friends throughout the past five years of my life and I am very, very grateful for each and every one of them.

Music Thing.

1. List your top five favorite musical artists
2. List your top five favorite songs from each artist.
3. Tag five people to do the same

1. Rufus Wainwright
2. Joni Mitchell
3. Scissor Sisters
4. Elton John
5. Miscellaneous Current Favorites Category (from Top 25 Most Played)


Rufus Wainwright
1. Vicious World
2. Beauty Mark
3. Something from Release the Stars
4. Poses
5. My Phone's On Vibrate For You / Natasha / Harvester of Hearts / Gay Messiah

Joni Mitchell
1. A Case of You
2. River
3. Carey
4. Both Sides Now
5. The Circle Game / All I Want

Scissor Sisters
1. Might Tell You Tonight
2. Music Is The Victim
3. Take Your Mama
4. I Can't Decide
5. Land of a Thousand Words / Return to Oz / Laura

Elton John
1. Tiny Dancer
2. Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters
3. Bennie and the Jets
4. Rocket Man
5. Your Song

Miscellaneous Favorites Category
1. "It's Gonna Take a Miracle" by Laura Nyro
2. "You're So Vain" by Carly Simon
3. "Save the Last Dance for Me" by The Drifters
4. "When My Boy Walks Down the Street" by The Magnetic Fields
5. "These Days" by Nico

Answers To Your Questions.

YES, acting is hard.
NO, I do not have a lot of homework.
YES, it's difficult when I do.
YES, I still like it.
NO, I do not hate my classes.
YES, I get satisfaction out of what I do.

YES, my major is just as relevant as yours.

Jesus.