Best Cinematography - The Big Lebowski

I've been on a film odyssey for several years now - I'm wading my way through watching every Oscar-nominated film since the Oscars were first handed out in 1928. So far, I've worked my way up to 1945 (I'm watching all nominees in all categories). Needless to say, I'm gaining many skills in the process:

• I'm a very discerning viewer now. I only have an appetite for really good movies and can only watch a bad or mediocre movie for a few minutes.
• I'm learning to spot winners before the awards are handed out - the two movies I can specifically recall KNOWING would win in a category as I was watching them were Scent of a Woman (I knew Al Pacino would win for Best Actor) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (I knew it would win in at least one of several categories, especially Art Direction).
• I'm gaining an appreciation for the many aspects of making a movie, beyond the acting, such as directing (I can often spot the work of a director without knowing who it is in advance) writing, editing (so crucial and so subjective), set design, etc.
• I think this process should be a college course in American Anthropology. Watching this many movies in sequential order is allowing me to watch the evolution of our society over the decades, including concepts surrounding beauty, morality, racism, power, war, violence, sex, and so much more. Simply fascinating.

The incredibly awesome Jesus character
from The Big Lebowski. John Turturro
made a small part spectacular and
memorable. LOVE the jumpsuit...and
the purple pinky fingernail and purple
bowling ball.

I've come across many Directors during this film fetish of mine, including the Coen Brothers (Joel & Ethan). They have become one of my favorite directing duos, as their work is quirky, irreverent, and often beautiful. The Big Lebowski is one of theirs that I've watched many times over, and I've since learned that it has a cult following. While watching it, I can't help but admire the cinematography. It's beyond beautiful - it's sharp, glistening, unusual, and smart.

Some of the scenes that I relish are:

• The many atmospheric shots inside the bowling alley, such as the backgrounds showing glowing vintage neon wall art, the smooth long wooden lanes, the bowlers letting balls go one after the other after the other in sequence, and close-up views of the bowling pin reset mechanisms (and I'm not a bowler!).
• The clever aspect of a view from inside a bowling ball (the Dude has become stuck inside one of the ball's finger holes in his dream), as the ball rolls down the lane.
• The unusual angles, such as when the thug is shoving Dude's head into the toilet - the camera angle is down below the toilet looking up, so we see the toilet, the Dude and the thug behind him, all in one shot. Great perspective.
• The under-the-girls view as the Dude passes through the legs of the Busby Berkeley style showgirls with bowling pin headdresses. In fact, the entire dream sequence is well-lit and well-shot.

As I watch the movie (again) and my eyes linger on each of the beautiful shots, I can't help but wonder how Roger Deakins did not win Best Cinematography for this film. Insights welcomed!

I think Sam Elliott deserves a special mention here, but then, he deserves his own blog post! Time for an oat soda...

Hudson River, Native Americans & Oscar

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A friend and I met up to visit the Albany Institute of History and Art today. Our plans were to view the new Hudson River Panorama exhibit, as well as to hear the featured speaker: Joseph Bruchac's "First Voices of the River: American Indian Stories and Traditions of the Hudson."

We are both museum mavens and soaked up the learning while viewing the special exhibit and the galleries. In addition to the new show, there are also many of the intricately detailed "Hudson River School" paintings, with their dark foregrounds and pale receding backgrounds, which creates such an illusion of depth. Some of the interesting artifacts we saw while checking out the Hudson River Valley's history included:

• an icebox - quite literally, just a chest-sized wooden box with a metal lining and a fitted lid, used for storing food along with the heavy ice blocks that were sawn from the river in winter, with a hole in the bottom for melted ice to drip out. Since the water dripped down over the food in the box, we also saw old advertisements admonishing housewives to be certain they were buying only the best "sanitary ice."
• a beautiful cast iron parlor stove molded to look like a house in Amsterdam.
• an intricate wooden tabletop stereoscope, which allows one to view two side-by-side images which, when viewed through the lenses, gives the image a 3-D appearance; these images were the main source of news photos for the general public in the mid to late 1800s, before photos could be reproduced in newspapers.
• huge and beautiful family bibles, with scrawled records of births, marriages, and deaths.
• replica birch bark and dugout canoes (the dugout was made by burning the wood in part of a log, and hacking out the ashes).

While walking about, we happened to step into a small "what we're working on" room. In this quiet room, behind a large glass wall, visitors can peer into a vault of artifacts that may appear in an upcoming exhibit. And, what to my wondering eyes should appear, but an OSCAR! A real, genuine, honest-to-goodness Academy Award. It's the first one I've ever seen in person, and it was such a moment for me.

This particular Oscar was won by Edwin Burke in 1932 for Writing Adaptation of "Bad Girl." As you may know, I'm in the process of watching all Oscar nominees since the awards first began in 1929. I only recently watched "Bad Girl" even though I'm currently watching films from 1940; so many of the older films requested through Netflix end up on a rather long waiting list (though I'm very happy I can get them at all...many are so old and obscure). Anyway, it was such a thrill to actually SEE an Oscar, especially so close. Now, to hold one in my hands...

After our tour of the museum, we headed to the lecture hall. Today's speaker, part of the educational lecture series that accentuates the exhibit, was Joseph Bruchac. He is an accomplished author (more than 70 books!) and storyteller, reflecting his Abenaki native American heritage and PhD education in his work. (He and his son made the dugout canoe in the exhibit!)

As Joseph gave us historical accounts and wove mesmerizing tales for us, he also displayed his many other talents...he spoke and sang in his native language, and played the drum, rattle, and flute. Sometimes when he played the drum, he held the padded drum stick in part of his hand, and the rattle in another part. So, with every beat of the drum, the rattle kept time, and the combination made a lovely rhythmic sound.

Before he played his beautiful wooden flute for us, he told us the story of the first flute: once a tree had a dead limb, which left the branch hollow. Soon, a woodpecker came along and made a series of holes in the hollow branch. And, when night came, the wind blew over the holes in the branch and a lovely sound drifted out. And so we have flutes, which bring together the sounds of the plants, birds, and wind, mixed with the breath of man.

We learned that a young man would play his flute for the woman he was wooing. If she accepted his song, they were soon married. She then put words to his music, and that song became the lullaby for their children. Such a lovely circle.

Joseph's stories and descriptions of the history of the Abenaki and other New York tribes helped bring the Hudson River exhibit to life in a meaningful way. Such an enriching day.
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Oscar Night Recap

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Yet another momentous night has come and gone.

The 81st Academy Awards show was so enjoyable this year. It was also different from any other we've watched because we participated in the live Twitterfeed as the event unfolded. This means that anyone watching the show, who also has a Twitter account, posted little snippets of their thoughts - 140 characters or less - as they occurred.

Watching this real-time commentary from people throughout the world added a different dimension to the experience. I don't know the final number of tweets posted during the show, but I do know they were coming in at a rate of hundreds per minute for a good deal of the event. The plus side of the Twitterfeed was hearing from such a large audience in real time; the down side was that I was often distracted from the show itself while reading the incredible volume of tweets, and sometimes missed important shots or comments.

On the food front, we've decided that this year's Oscar Night Menu was our favorite so far...we nibbled through the night and thoroughly enjoyed it.

As far as liking or disliking the show, we really don't think in those terms. To us, the Oscars are fabulous no matter what - each year is just a little different depending on the host and a few other variables. But it's all good. A few highlights from the night included:

• Ann Hathaway as Nixon.
• Hugh Jackman channeling Fred Astaire...puttin' on his top hat.
• Acknowledgement of Meryl Streep's record 15 career nominations.
• Kate Winslet's dad whistling in the audience so she could spot him during her acceptance speech.
• Heath Ledger's family accepting his award, and being allowed to talk as long as they wanted.
• Jerry Lewis winning the Jean Hersholt award...I watched him through teary eyes, remembering all the hilarious movies of his that I watched when I was just a kid.
• Phillipe Petit successfully balancing an Oscar on his chin when the documentary about his life, "Man on Wire," won the award.

As far as winners, I won't recap that...you can find results on a million websites. According to my personal ballot, 46% of my predictions were correct. The only time I remember KNOWING someone would win an Oscar was the year I was watching Al Pacino in "Scent of a Woman." I could just tell as I watched him perform that this was a big one for him - he was so formidable. Looks like I wasn't quite so sure of my choices this year.

By this time next year, I'm hoping we've found a mini statuette to grace the center of our feast table. If anyone knows where we can get one, let me know!
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Oscar Night Menu

Since Oscar Night is such a momentous and reverential night, we MUST have a special menu!

Some magazines and cookbooks offer full meal menus for this fabulous night, but we've always done "nibbles" - lots of delectable goodies that we can just graze on during the event. So, here are our nibbles for tomorrow night:

• Sparkling Drinks
• Cheese Tray: Sharp Cheddar, Port Salut, Havarti with Dill, and Herb Cheese Spread
• Pate with Peppercorns & Pepperoni
• Ciabatta Bread & Assorted Crackers
• Condiments: Mango Chutney & Whole Grain Mustard
• Hummus with Sea Salt Bagel Chips
• Steamed Artichokes with Butter Dip
• Grapes & Clementines
• Assorted Olives & Pickles
• Vanilla, Chocolate, and Cappucino Pizelles
• Mini Chocolate Eclairs

My mouth is watering even as I write. I can't wait for tomorrow night...so exciting!

OMG - OSCAR Night!!

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(I don't think I included enough exclamation points in the post title.)

Oscar Night is coming on February 22nd!!!!

I'm guessing that we approach this night the way many approach Superbowl Sunday parties (have only heard about Superbowl Sunday parties through folklore, but have never actually experienced one - sports just aren't our thang). For the momentous, stupendous, enthralling Oscar Night...

• We need careful planning of the menu...choice nibbles and special treats, but nothing too stuffy, along with sparkling drinks. (Here's what Wolfgang Puck will be serving at the Governor's Ball...ours won't be quite that elaborate.)
• We tune in for The Barbara Walter's Oscar Special at 7:oo (similar to the Superbowl pregame show?) and watch right on through to the end.
• We comment liberally on clothing and personalities.
• We check off our ballots to vote for our Oscar faves.
• And then we settle in to listen to the chosen host, to see how the stars are at presenting, and to see if our selections are the winners.

It ends up being a pretty late night, but it is so worth it.

Some day, I would like to hold one of those gold statuettes in my own hands...preferably the one Vivien Leigh won for playing Scarlett O'Hara or the one Gone With the Wind won for Best Picture, one of the TEN awards it received way back in 1939.

Oscar Trivia: Did you know that the statuette is an art deco rendition of a knight? He's holding a crusader's sword and standing on a reel of film with 5 spokes, which represent the original branches of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences (AMPAS)...Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers, & Technicians.

Bette Davis thought she was the one who first called him "Oscar," because she said he looked like her first husband, Harmon Oscar Nelson.
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4,000 Questions - #2: Unusual Films

Here's the background info on the 4,000 Questions posts...

And, here's Question #2: Are you a fan of any unusual music or film?

My Answer:

I'll choose film, since that's where my interest lies. I can't say I'm a fan of an unusual film, but I DO have a fun hobby...I'm in the process of watching every Oscar-nominated movie since the Oscars were first given out in 1928. I'm currenly in 1940. (Thank goodness for Netflix, which has so many of the older and uncommon movies.)

As I move through each year in film, I not only get to watch stars and directors develop over time, but I also get to see the changes our own American culture has gone through. This hobby has actually been a quirky and engaging study of cultural anthropology!

One of my daydreams is to hold (not just see) an Oscar of one of the stars or films I admire. And, of course, Oscar night is our superbowl!

Your Answer...

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