Tag Archives: Oscars

I Surrender

It’s the last Monday in February. It is also John Doe from X and George Harrison of the Beatles birthdays. It’s been an interesting day. Bill was up and out and I slept a little bit more, waking up and saying ‘Ma?’ as if my mother was in the next room. She wasn’t and if she was I would be very surprised and more than a little bit terrified. I got out of bed and shuffled along on slippered feet. A shower and a plan of action was set for the day. I actually started planning last night while watching the Academy Awards.

Bill stayed up and watched the whole show with me. We both enjoyed Lincoln and Argo and were happy to see some awards go their way. We also watched Silver Linings Playbook which Bill liked more than I did, though I did think that Jennifer Lawrence was the best thing in it. Jackie Weaver was very good in Silver Linings Playbook though she was better in Animal Kingdom which was one of the most intense movies I had ever seen. Bill and I both figured that Daniel Day Lewis would win best actor since he was the best actor.

We also guessed that Argo would win best picture. Neither of us watched Les Misérables or Django Unchained. We have Les Misérables on DVD and we will probably wait for Django Unchained to be released. We both enjoyed the Oscar telecast last night. We are not Seth McFarlane fans but we thought he was funny and handled his hosting duties admirably. We also liked it when Letterman hosted years ago, as well as Jon Stewart but the best was Chris Rock. All the hosts we liked seemed to get the thumbs down from the general public and critics.

We do agree with those who thought James Franco and Anne Hathaway were not that good at all. And now with all the hoopla over and done with, Turner Classic Movies is going back to its usual schedule so I guess we can expect to see at least two Barbara Stanwyck movies a day. It’s a good thing she was a good actress and we enjoy her movies. Bill went to bed right after the broadcast and I of course stayed up a little bit longer before I too went to bed. I slept fairly well.

Today was crazy. A phone call from an agency, something that I would be good for, and could I do an interview this afternoon. I answered that I could and was told I would hear more at noon. At 12:30 I got a phone call, it would probably be tomorrow which was fine. That was followed by another phone call, the interview was back on, 3:00. I got suited up and headed out around 1:30. I definitely did not want to be late and when I saw the bus schedule I knew the Path train was the way to go.

I was in the city a little after 2:00 and proceeded to walk up Sixth Avenue when I got a phone call. The interview was rescheduled again to tomorrow. It was disappointed but I didn’t mind. More time to freak out I suppose. I was able to see Bill for a few minutes outside his office building. He printed up a few copies of my resume and we had a good chat. Then a walk back to the bus terminal and a short wait before I was back in Hoboken, losing to the tablet computer in Dominoes a few times on the bus, I won a few rounds but the robot won the game.
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POCKETFUL OF RAINBOWS _ ポケットが虹でいっぱ

Fela’s Riff (Unfinished Outtake)

Well here we are on a Monday. The Lady Maurice could be gone for good. I can only hope that it’s so. The only time I intend on mentioning that name is perhaps when writing about Charlie Brown’s sister.

It’s another beautiful day today, temperatures close to 60 degrees. Last night wasn’t so bad even though I didn’t go out, I did have the window open.

I planned on watching the Academy Awards in the bedroom since there was a fight between ABC TV and my cable provider Cablevision. I had the foresight, or rather Bill had the foresight, to get a digital converter box. I had the coupon for the box, Bill actually went out and got the box.

A part of the day was spent online advising friends on Facebook who also were in the same cable TV boat to go out and get the box if they intended to watch the Oscars.

I settled in expecting to be running back and forth, from room to room, bedroom to computer so I can provide my witty and insightful updates. OK, updates. Perhaps not so witty and probably not insightful.

About 15 minutes into the awards show a scroll at the bottom of the screen announced an agreement between ABC and Cablevision, that while they are still negotiating, ABC will still broadcast on Cablevision’s system.

I turned on the big TV and there it was as they said, just a foot or two from the computer. I announced on Facebook what had happened and apparently some Facebook friends didn’t know. I even called my niece Meghan to let her know since she had mentioned earlier how disappointed that she was going to have to watch the Oscars on her computer screen.

I enjoyed the Oscars and enjoyed exchanging snarky comments with my online friends. I’d like to think we all enjoyed ourselves. I stayed up and watched Jimmy Kimmel after the news following the Academy Awards which was generally pretty funny.

I wound up staying up until 2:00. Bill hadn’t come home yet and I was a bit worried but opted to go to sleep. He was home about 45 minutes later, trains and things run much slower after midnight and this play is definitely taking on a life on it’s own.

Woke up before he did this morning, I was in a better mood today than I was yesterday. I showed Bill yesterday’s post, he agreed that I was standoffish in the morning which I expected. He situated himself in the bedroom, working on his laptop and making phone calls to the stage hands.

Around noon I headed out, wandered around Hoboken. Saw Jim Mastro at the Guitar Bar for a little while. Also ran into my former roommate William on Washington Street with a friend of his David, a 75 year old gent that William seemed to be escorting around town.

Good to see William and nice to meet David. William’s friend Lisa showed up as well and we all parted ways after a bit, William and David off to feed quarters in the meter and Lisa and I headed uptown.

Came home, Bill en route to Manhattan. I decided to watch the DVD of Passing Strange which was most excellent. Bill and I had seen it at the Public Theater in 2007 and we both loved it, and Spike Lee decided to film the last night that it played on Broadway.

Forgot how good and touching it is. Definitely worth catching if you have the chance. I got it from the library so I guess it is available in most DVD rental stores.

Being the last show, weepiness abounds on both sides of the screen, them more than me. Still it’s a powerful, funny, sad and touching show and worth watching.

Will someone please beat Tom DeLay within an inch of his life? I have a ruler if needed.