Getting ready for the Oscars!

Hooray for Hollywood!  

Ok... I don't know that it's "hooray" exactly, but I do love to watch the glam. of the Oscar night festivities.    In prep for the Oscars, one must of course have:

•  the nominees and the categories
  
• ballots for you and friends to cast their votes while munching food and sipping wine
  
• and a summary of the movies in the top categories (see below)
• wine and food
• 106" screen on which to project all the Red Carpet and Award night action.

Here are a quick summary of some of the top nominated movies (courtesy of the summaries at Oscar.com that I had to painful to find, cut and paste here)  Please see oscar.com for a more complete list of nominated films and details for each.

Enjoy!

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON

 

Benjamin Button's life begins at the close of World War I, when he is born with the body of an old man. As the years pass, however, Benjamin discovers that he is gradually becoming younger even as he grows older in experience and wisdom--a situation that informs his relationship with the lovely Daisy, who reenters his life periodically as they grow closer together in physical age.

 

FROST/NIXON

 

Following his 1974 resignation, Richard Nixon withdraws from public life until talk show host David Frost persuades him--with the help of a sizeable payment--to participate in a series of television interviews.  For Frost, the much-anticipated event offers a chance to establish himself as a serious journalist, while the disgraced former president regards the interviews as an opportunity to reestablish himself on the political stage.

 

MILK

As the emerging Gay Pride movement gathers force in the 1970s, it finds a champion and a public face in San Francisco camera store owner Harvey Milk.  Leaving his closeted life in New York behind, Milk moves to California with his lover and soon turns his efforts to politics, campaigning for a spot on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors--a quest that will make him the country's first openly gay man to be elected to public office.

 

THE READER

In late 1950s Germany, fifteen-year-old Michael Berg begins an affair with Hanna, a woman in her mid-thirties. Hanna's past contains a dark secret, however, the revelation of which, in the decades following the period of his first experience with love, will both shock Michael and force him to confront his country's history.

 

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE

 

An eighteen-year-old from the slums of Mumbai finds himself competing on the game show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire," where the questions he must answer offer a look back at his earlier life. The show's host, however, insists that he must be cheating and takes steps to force young Jamal to admit that a boy from such an impoverished background could not possibly possess the knowledge necessary to win the show's top prize.

 

CHANGELING

When single mother Christine Collins's ten-year-old son, Walter, disappears, she finds herself at odds with the corrupt Los Angeles Police Department of the late 1920s, whose primary interest lies in preserving its own reputation. As the increasingly distraught Christine is subjected to brazen fraud and mistreatment by the police, she finds an ally in radio televangelist Gustav Briegleb.

 

THE DARK KNIGHT

 

Gotham City appears to be heading toward a relatively crime-free future, because of the efforts of Batman, District Attorney Harvey Dent, and Lieutenant Jim Gordon, and Bruce Wayne hopes he will soon be able to abandon his secret identity. The arrival of the terrifying Joker, however, whose actions are motivated solely by his desire to outwit the Caped Crusader, forces Wayne to continue in his role as the city's best hope against the powers of evil.

 

DOUBT

The arrival of a progressive priest at a Bronx Catholic school in 1964 leads to a confrontation with the tradition-minded nun who serves as its principal. When Sister Aloysius suspects that Father Flynn may be taking an excessive interest in the school's first African-American student, she responds with a headstrong determination that is either a necessary defense of an abused boy or a heedless condemnation of an innocent man.

 

RACHEL GETTING MARRIED

Following her most recent stay in rehab, recovering addict Kym arrives at her family's home for her sister Rachel's upcoming wedding. Troubled and self-absorbed, Kym upsets the wedding plans with her constant need to focus attention on her own problems, sparking the emergence of the family's barely concealed tensions in the days leading up to the ceremony.

 

REVOLUTIONARY ROAD 

Frank and April Wheeler live a life of suburban plenty that seems on its surface to represent the essence of the post-World War II American dream. In reality, however, the pair are haunted by the thought that they have betrayed their youthful dreams and are trapped in a conventional lifestyle that falls far short of the more bohemian existence they had imagined for themselves.

 

VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA

When American friends Vicky and Cristina meet a charismatic Spanish artist while staying in Barcelona, they agree to fly with him to Oviedo, where Cristina and Juan Antonio begin an affair and the soon-to-be-married Vicky wonders if she has chosen the right future. Their romantic idyll takes a dramatic turn, however, with the arrival of Maria Elena, the painter's tempestuous ex-wife.

 

Are children's carseats really necessary?

Tonight I watched an interesting TED video featuring economist and author of one of my favorite read "Freakonomics",  Steven Levitt, asking "Are children's carseats necessary?" http://tinyurl.com/4tdhtw

Being the mother of three kids, the oldest of whom is 11, I've used car seats a fair bit.  Best Beloved and I have even discussed whether or not 7 year-old Krash needs to be in a booster of some kind still.  He's only 63 lbs but he's a whopping 4'8", plenty tall enough not to strangle in a regular seat belt especially when he's sitting in the very back seat of my Honda Odessey which rides a little higher than the regular seat.  

Princess Pink, now 4 and 38 lbs, rides in a booster with a 5 point restraint but after watching this video, I wish my van had the integrated booster seat that some other vans have.

I guess I will breath a little easier knowing that he numbers are in Krash's favor (he thinks he's way too big and too old to be seen riding around in a booster).

What do you think?

I am such a lame blogger!

Oh, man!  There's a lot to learn about making an interesting blog...  I visited Lizze's site "Cheerio Confessions" and I am humbled.  I just don't think I devote enough time to this little endeavor.  OK so I work as a middle manager in a large company, try to keep up with the activities of three young kids, tweet 5.6 times per day (per MrTweet), blog once a week, and have a social life too.

This site is so bland!!   I'm clearly falling down on the job!    

New commitment mythical, readers!  I will attempt to put some better content and eye candy out here.

Loss for words over co-worker's loss of baby.

 I say I'm at a  loss for words over my co-worker's loss of her baby today.  Actually I feel like I need to write about this because I just don't know what to do with the sadness.

Ana is a thirty-something woman I work with, who had a relatively uneventful pregnancy.  Her baby was due last Thursday and the doctor decided that if the baby wasn't born naturally by today, then she would have labor induced.  Ana and baby had a stress test yesterday in which the medical personnel check the baby's heart beat and the number kicks by the baby, etc. to make sure that everything was OK.  They also checked to be sure Ana was doing OK.  All was well and the labor induction was scheduled for today.

Ana had left a list of over 70 co-workers who were to be notified with all the specifics about the baby when the day's activities were closed.  Her manager, a thirty-something father of two very young children, had agreed to send what was expected to be the happy news about weights and measures.  Instead, he has the unhappy task of notifying the 70+ folks who were waiting for news from Ana that this morning the doctor found the baby had no heartbeat.    

A life ---  who is has been growing and thriving for 10 months, who was much anticipated by many, who was fine yesterday by all metrics available outside the womb --  is gone just like that.

When I heard the news, I was so sad I couldn't catch my breath for a moment. 

My heart goes out to Ana and her family.  I wish I could help syphon away the overwhelming pain and sadness she must be experiencing right now.  

Blended Reality in Communities vs. Neighborhoods

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it. " —Ferris Bueller

The little genius (or rather writer/director John Hughes) was right.  Life does move pretty fast, and it seems to be accelerating every time I turn around.  The times (like now) when I can just sit and enjoy the weather and write seems fewer and farther between.  On the weekend there's always a dance lesson, or a swim lesson, or a club to rush the kids to.  On the weekdays we are off to school and work with snippets of daily happenings filling in the gaps.  As we strive for quality time with family and friends, I am taking stock in what I do each day to make deposits in the emotional bank accounts of my loved ones.  I am also looking at the ways others make deposits of affection and goodwill with me.

I've discovered I rely a bit to much on email and twitter to keep me connected with those I care about.  I've also discovered that they are doing it too.  And then I thought, perhaps that's just how it has to be.  We are so busy that we have to find new ways to stay connected because we can't always be together when we might want to be.  

It might be crazy schedules which keep us apart.  It might be family duties with kids and even aging parents which keep us apart. It might be a mismatch in the ages and genders of our children that make family get togethers less harmonious.   Whatever the reason, using electronic means - email, Twitter, Facebook, SMS txt messages, whatever -- to stay up to date on what's going on in each others lives is a way to keep the relationship alive until there's a better match in our blended realities.  

Children are not always little.   Jobs are not always demanding (ideally anyway).   Spouses aren't always on the road, or whatever.  

I have a close circle of friends who live in another city than me.  I am jealous of the full, rich lives they have together when I cannot be with them. I know I'm missing out on some many little things, but we've found ways through email and Skype and occasional real-world visits to stay connected  on some level and to continue to care for one another as only best friends can.   

It's a little scary to actually write that --- I hope they feel that way about me -- I know I feel that way about them... but who knows where I stand with real world visits only 1-2 times a year and phone and email in the intervening times.    I guess this is the trust we must put these long distance relationships... and these blended-reality communities.

It occurs to me words "neighborhood" and "community" are sometimes used interchangeably today.    Getting clear on the meaning of the words seems important as we all come to grips with our new blended realities.  

A neighbor is someone who is in close proximity to you (geographically).   A neighborhood is a collection of someones in close proximity to you.    That definition implies two or more people with some common geographical  interests but not necessarily emotional ties   That notion reminds me of the old adage about good fences making good neighbors... it's good to share proximity but it's better to understand our boundaries.  Neighborhoods and their neighbors have a subdivided notion to them.

The word "community" doesn't have a variation to denote a singular member.  It implies one cannot have a community of one.  It also implies a one-ness  of a group ---  

• comm-unity = common unity?

An older definition of the word gave a notion a community being physically located near one another.  

Technology has allowed for communities to exist across long distances.  Technology has allowed communities to continue to thrive as digital diasporas.

So we come back to my neighborhood.  We are a collection of homes and homeowners who have a geographically based association with one another.  Our walls and fences keep us apart.  

Our desire for community, common unity, brings us together.  And now technology can help us build communities where once only neighborhoods were possible.

We can have neighborhood discussion boards instead of coffee klatches (because we now drink our coffee in our cars or at obscene hours of the morning while we're quite unpresentable for social calls).  These have the added advantage of being public and more inclusive of even our husbands.

We have email addresses to communicate asynchronously when it's convenient for us when the kids are in bed or other occupied in safe, fun activities.

Just recently I learned that it was a good idea to add my neighbors to my LinkedIn connections, and my Facebook friends, because at the end of a day when I've been running at Mach 2 with my hair on fire and I find I have an email or a message scrawled for me --- my emotional bank account, my good will bucket, my happiness meter overfloweth.  Even electronically, it's nice to be thought of even if it's to pass along a joke.

Being connected to my neighbors means I can help them through their troubles big and small and it means their resources may be my resources if I've built up enough credit with them.  

Being connected in online kinds of ways give us new ways to loan a neighbor a cup of sugar, a little virtual sweetness in a life that's already moving pretty fast.

Time to make dinner.   More musings later.