Prove it!

As of midnight last night, it was exactly six years since my first post. It's been a tough thing to keep up with a dayjob and outside activities, and just when I think I might walk away, a valuable connection or interesting opportunity or a kind word comes my way. Thank you all for reading me.

Of whom are you more jealous?

Here are my favorite 100+ posts out of nearly 11,000. Please take some time to read (or re-read!) a couple and tweet or Facebook any you like.

xoxo Matt

The pocket pool championships were intense this year

BOY CULTURE

Boy-crazy

FROM BOY TO MAN: BC B.C. (2007): The entire history of my novell and novel Boy Culture as well as the movie version; might be my ultimate post.

Jonathon Trent & Derek Magyar make an Allan Brocka sandwich

BOY ON FILM (2006): An account of the NYC launch party for Boy Culture as it played the TriBeCa Film Fest.

I was left "Reeling" by the experience

FRIENDS AND "FAMILY" (2006): The movie version of Boy Culture hits Chicago.

No one would've mistaken me for Taylor Lautner

RAPT PUPIL (2006): The final night of Outfest with Boy Culture; I was fat but on the other hand got to meet Bryan Singer.

 

MY ART

 

Construction worker (shot this week) vs. James Dean

GUYDAR (since at least January 17, 2008) & ENDS OF THE WORLD (since at least January 13, 2008): Attractive men of the world—I got your backs. Your fronts, too.

i-i-i (phone)

Not totally built

Unaltered iPhone image that still blows me away

"Your pictures suck" (2008): An art critic attacks me, but not without sustaining some hits in return.

Let's call it a draw

DRAWN TOGETHER (2008): How my desire to draw related to my secret desire. One of my absolute favorite posts.

The shirtless one

LOST ANGELES (2009): My favorite photographic travelogue of L.A.

Even then, New Yorkers feared 9/11 was the beginning of the end

ART IMITATES LIFE (2006): My 9/11 and my distaste for grief tourism.

ME

Death of the party—Jeff in high school, already halfway through his life

BURNING MAN (2007): Tribute to my late high school friend and first romance.

Signed, sealed (eventually) delivered

LOST BOY FOUND (2011): There is a book in here somewhere.

Be Italian

CIAO HOUNDS: OUR TRIP TO ITALY (2011): Finally got José to Europe.

Death becomes here

ILLINOIS DEATH TRIP (2007): Ruminations on death while revisiting a past home, and the past.

Life is short...and meaningful

PASSING BY (2008): Mourning the loss of a person I only met once.

Lots more...

Don't like Miley's dress and Penelope Cruz looks (gasp!) plain.

I was not aware that Lisa Rinna had, apparently, died.

Phoebe Cates is fucking ageless. Looks like she climbed out of that pool and onto the red carpet. Forty-five!

Everyone is buzzing about Mickey Rourke. After seeing The Wrestler, I had a hard time seeing how he'd lose, but Sean seemed to regain momentum, culminating with that SAG Award. But...I don't know. The Oscars have been doing rebound award a lot lately.

Speaking of him: How the heck did Mickey Rourke keep a dog alive for 18 years? He's barely kept himself alive.

I'm scared to see how Madonna is going to look and how her debut with Jesus Luz will go over.

As my buddy Jason said of the Slumdog kids, "Please return your tux before you go back to living in filth."

Brangelina are too far up their own asses at these events. Angelina, you are a mortal woman.

Zac's so cute, but he shouldn't refer to Dev Patel as a "kid." He did say Milk was his favorite movie (but buddy Lucas Grabeel appeared in it, so that might've swung his vote).

Viola Davis looks like she's wearing a Marilyn Monroe gown. I like.

Sophia Loren has more filler than an eighth-grade English essay, but still looks pretty hot. I'm dying to see Nine.

Ben. Lyons. Is. An. Idiot.

Frank Langella loves Nixon after playing him? FUCK THAT.

I totally knew Hugh would lead with an Australia joke.

I LOVE THE STAGE. I LOVE THE FORMER WINNERS PRESENTING. I WAS ABOUT HALF AND HALF ON THE KITSCHY SONG-AND-DANCE, BUT POINTS FOR EFFORT.

Nate of FiveThirtyEight attempts to predict the Oscars—but I think he's much better at politics.

First, he thinks (the completely over-the-top) Taraji Henson will win Best Supporting Actress. While this category's curveball history makes this entirely possible, his reasoning is offbase—he talks about how an actor from a nominated film has a leg up in this slot, but that isn't true. Also, he fails to note that Woody Allen tends to help women win Oscars and further exposes his ignorance of the movie-award world by chastising the Oscars for failing to read Kate Winslet's turn in The Reader as supporting. It really isn't supporting—she's the fucking lead.

Slumdog will win...it is written.

Also, I think Milk has a better than 1% chance of winning. Not much, but better. And that's okay, because Slumdog Millionaire is a tour de force—don't let the predictable backlash dissuade you from seeing it. I loved it.

Finally, he says Mickey Rourke has a more than 70% chance of winning Best Actor. Until the SAG Awards, I felt Rourke was picking up momentum. I would not at all be shocked if he won. However, Penn has to be considered to have an advantage due to the passage of Prop 8 and the fact that Milk will likely not win for Best Picture. Also, he was great as Harvey Milk, a prominent Californian.

I think it's Slumdog for Picture, Boyle for Director, Penn for Actor, Winslet for Actress, Cruz (I had thought Viola would get this—she still might since Doubt won't win anything else) for Supporting Actress and Ledger for Supporting Actor.

The Reader means Stepen Daldry's gotten nom'd for all 3 films he's made.

The full list of Oscar nominations is here, with expert opinion on them here. Talking points to make you look smart here.

My impressions:

OVERALL

I'm shocked that The Reader did so well! It raked in major nominations, including for Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, and yet it stands at a mere 60% on RottenTomatoes.com with 150 reviews counted. Could it be the least positively reviewed film to get a Best Picture nod since...Ghost?

I would hazard a guess that its Nazi theme helped it with the Hollywood crowd. Anything about the Nazis—presuming it's good in the first place—gets an extra boost. Remember Adrien Brody's out-of-nowhere win for Best Actor? Not casting aspersions (I've been dying to see the movie), it's just an interesting trend to me. Hollywood also smiles upon movies with liberal social agendas, such as The Cider House Rules or Crash (realllly smiled upon it) or this year's Milk. It's not that they aren't good, it's that they're probably extra-favored for content as well as form.

I'm a bit miffed that Revolutionary Road was overlooked. I loved it! But it's also quite interesting considering the film was directed for Oscar winner Sam Mendes and stars two beloved Hollywood actors. Maybe the Academy felt giving nods to Brangelina was enough red-carpet consideration.

The eight nominations for Milk show a genuine affection and respect for the film, even if I think it will only win for Best Original Screenplay. ("Only" he says—that would be an amazing award.)

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button gets 13 nods, but I would guess it will lose most of those. It's such a BIG movie with so many potential nominees, but none jump out as sure-bet winners.

From TV y Novelas (Enero 20, 2009), 40-year-old Mexican actor Gabriel Porras doesn't lie about his age, he defies it:

The Golden Globes were pretty good...merits aside, I am not happy about the idea of homophobic asshole Mickey Rourke winning this and possibly an Oscar based on Hollywood's love of the comeback (especially over Sean Penn), but it was downright shocking that Kate Winslet won both acting awards. I figured she'd never win for Best Actress anyway, let alone on the heels of winning for Best Supporting Actress, but I think the competition among the leads (male and female) this year could mean similar surprises at the Oscars. (I would have chosen Anne Hathaway.) I'm pleased that Slumdog was given a huge boost by winning all four of the awards for which it was nominated, and I hope the Oscars won't react against that as they did with Brokeback and will reward the film with the Best Picture prize it deserves.

Following is the list of 2008 movies I've seen so far, arranged from my favorite to my least favorite. I would say I was totally enthusiastic about the Top 7, I liked the next 3 and the rest were mixed. Wow, I really didn't see that many movies I loved this year! Feel free to chime in with your thoughts on any of the movies I've seen or the ones I have yet to see (which I list at the end):

Sometimes, the obvious choice is the right choice.

Slumdog Millionaire: Heart-breaking and masterful.

Let The Right One In: Beautiful, scary and unexpected.

Revolutionary Road: A symphony of psychic pain; Kate Winslet is devastating.

Milk: An old-fashioned biopic with topical urgency and the male performances of the year.

In Bruges: A shocker! A warm and witty hit-man flick with heart.

Rachel Getting Married: An experimental triumph of naturalism with the female performance of the year from Anne Hathaway.

This documentary truly rocked.

Young@Heart: A feel-good (not always) documentary with laughs and tears.

The Critics' Choice Awards might be a near-exact prediction of the upcoming Oscars. I want a Best Actress tie again so we can see Meryl Streep wearing something like this:

Black by popular demand.

I missed the SAG nominations, which are listed at Film Experience Blog. Nathaniel is not such a big Slumdog Millionaire fan, so was not impressed with its Best Ensemble nod. I will agree that while I found the acting to be above any critcism, the parts were not as demanding as in some other films of late. But...I loved the movie, so I'm happy.

Best Actor looks like what Oscar's list will probably look like, with Jenkins (The Visitor) the only one who could feasibly be displaced, probably by Dev Patel, who is considered Supporting by SAG.

Best Actress is similarly on the money.

Supporting Actor again ignores James Franco and Emile Hirsch in favor of Robert Downey Jr.'s goofy Tropic Thunder turn—could he actually win? Or will it go to the late Heath Ledger?

Supporting Actress tosses in Amy Adams and also Kate Winslet (in the wrong category, I'd say), but I think Viola Davis will snag this one.

Entertainment Weekly (December 26, 2008—January 2, 2009) also chimes in with its films of the year, via dueling Top 10s by Lisa Schwarzbaum (with whom I often disagree—she is very mainstream) and Owen Gleiberman (which whom I often disagree—he is so unpredictable)..after the jump...