2333hrs

Listening to:



Damien Rice - O [Special Edition] (2004)


Much thanks to ying for this one. ;) I am absolutely taken in by this Irish singer-songwriter's melancholic voice and acoustic guitar work. (y)


This afternoon, at 12.53pm...



Wire on earth do I have to do this? (w)

Later on in the day, an interesting observation:
agent s: "You belong in the newsroom."

Sigh.

2359hrs

Listening to: The Oscars on TV

1105hrs

Listening to: Spandau Ballet - Through The Barricades


At 4.15am this morning, I was half-watching WWE SmackDown! and half-reading through some notes grimly. Finally went to bed just before five... and I'm up now.

Sigh. It's Sunday already. :(

Anyways, today is my buddy Jon's birthday... last night the bros met up at the Bliss Bistro in Punggol Park to celebrate for him.



Birthday boy with his Oreo cake! Nice leh. Everyone had two slices, yum. (y)



Hoegaarden at $7.50 nett per bottle. Where to find sia?! Here lor! Hahaha.



Yes, Hoegaarden gets the (y) from hucks and Jon. (I cut my hair by the way, so short aii)



But it's also possibly the strongest brew on earth. We're still trying to figure out how...



... one bloody bottle of beer can get four people drunk. Hahaha. :D

Okay... have to get ready to go out, my mum is dragging me out to buy stuff for tonight's dinner. Sianz! (w) But anything for a home-cooked meal I guess...

Enjoy your precious Sundays, my friends.

1507hrs

Listening to: Natasha Bedingfield - Unwritten


 

The 77th Annual Academy Awards will be held this Sunday night (Monday morning, Singapore time) at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. Here are my predictions for the Best Picture nominees (having watched all of them over the space of five weeks, heheh), and also for some other random categories.

1. The Aviator (reviewed here)
The frontrunner with 11 nominations, it has all the credentials of a multiple award winner a la Titanic. However, strong competition in the acting categories may see it having a better chance in the technical categories. Martin Scorsese is a shoo-in for Best Director though.

2. Finding Neverland (reviewed here)
I really enjoyed Johnny Depp in this one. Think it has a good chance in the Costume Design category, but not for Best Picture. Seven nominations is quite an achievement, nonetheless.

3. Million Dollar Baby (reviewed here)
Probably the one most likely to go home empty-handed... unless the Academy decides to overlook Scorsese and Annette Benning again.

4. Ray (reviewed here)
Jamie Foxx is 101% going to win Best Actor! Haha. Has an outside chance at a win in the Best Picture category, judging by how the Grammys went.

5. Sideways (reviewed here)
The critical (and also my) favourite, I hope it wins Best Picture! And that Thomas Haden Church beats Clive Owen for Best Supporting Actor! Heheh. Go Sideways! :)

***

Other categories:

Actor in a Leading Role- Jamie Foxx (Ray)
Actress in a Leading Role - Hilary Swank (Million Dollar Baby) [going out on a limb here]
Actor in a Supporting Role - Thomas Haden Church (Sideways)
Actress in a Supporting Role - Cate Blanchett (The Aviator)
Directing - Martin Scorsese (The Aviator)

Animated Feature Film- The Incredibles
Art Direction - Finding Neverland
Cinematography - The Passion Of The Christ
Costume Design - Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events
Makeup - The Passion Of The Christ

Music (Score) - Finding Neverland
Music (Song) - "Accidentally In Love" (Shrek 2)

Visual Effects - Spider-Man 2

Writing (Adapted Screenplay) - The Motorcycle Diaries
Writing (Original Screenplay) - Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind

***

That's it! Let's see how many I get right. ;)

2326hrs

Listening to: Blue - You Make Me Wanna (it's on the radio lahhh)


What a crazy day... I ate at three different suburban ice cream parlours today. Haha. All in the name of stupid Chron. Tagged along with smelt to take pix and drive them around, humph. But really great on such a hot day! :@



First up was Island Creamery at Serene Centre. We had the Tiger Sorbet, which is beer-flavoured! Very refreshing indeed... felt a bit sleepy after eating it though lol.



The second place was Venezia at Fifth Avenue. It was full of schoolkids from a premier junior college with brown colour uniform, haha. :X



hucks says: "YUMMY! (y)!!"

After a brief stop for Katong laksa (melt's first time!), we trudged down (figuratively lah) to our final stop:



Ice Cream Gallery at Eastwood Centre. A very tiny shop but with a nice comfy atmosphere and really nice Baileys ice cream!



All in the name of Chron, they said. ;)

And now, I need to drink more water if not tomorrow sure sore throat haha. :P

The Oscar entry is next I promise!

0935hrs

Listening to: Michael Buble - Save The Last Dance


... just 'cos it's on the radio. Don't like this guy anymore! Elevator muzak (n).

Anyways, I finally finished watching all the Best Picture nominees last night! At GV Grand's ex-OmniMax theatre (gigantic screen!):



Sideways (2004)

There are no special effects in this film; neither are there any lush sets or big stars. So how on earth did Sideways beat films like Ray and The Aviator to the Best Picture award at the Golden Globes (usually a good gauge of who wins at the Oscars)?

The story is simple: the film's protagonist Miles (Paul Giamatti) and his best pal from college Jack (Best Supporting Actor nominee Thomas Haden Church) take a wine-tasting road trip around California vineyards as a celebration of freedom before Jack gets married at the weekend.



That's Miles there teaching washed-up actor Jack about the finer points of tasting wine. While Miles is a neurotic, chronically depressed wine connoiseur/divorcee and Jack's an overaged California surfer-type dude, putting the both of them together is just hilarious and quite magical.



Along the way, Miles meets a waitress Maya (Best Supporting Actress nominee Virginia Madsen), who's just as into wines as he is...



While Jack hooks up (hoho) with wine store girl Stephanie (Sandra Oh; yes she's an ABC I believe) in more ways than one ("One for you, three for me", wahaha).

The girls throw a spanner in the works, and the guys' road trip doesn't turn out the way it was planned (at least for poor Miles), but he shows how good a friend he is and sticks by Jack all the way.



Even when Jack's nose gets broken. (Weirdly enough, this is my favourite part of the film hahaha :P)

Of all the five Oscar films, this is the one I knew the least and had the least expectations about; maybe that's why I enjoyed it the most. The music was cool, cinematography was nice, and best of all, the chemistry between the four leads was comfortable and easy on the eye. I found myself smiling throughout the movie. :)

Lester's rating: 4.5/5 stars!

In the next entry: my Oscar picks!

1800hrs

Listening to: Snoop Dogg feat. Pharrell - Drop It Like It's Hot


So it finally rained this afternoon! Albeit only for a couple of minutes. Looking out the window, it looked like someone decided to wash the road with soap:



Can someone solve the mystery? By the way, this road in front of my house is being watched by the TP! Don't play play ah...