The 2012 Oscar Nominees were announced this morning!
You know what that means, it’s time to come up with pun-filled dishes for the Oscar party! AKA Oscar Noms. (Thank you, David LeGault or Jack Terpstra. I can’t remember who made that pun last year.)
Here’s a few that have come from years past:
(Blue Valentines)
(Firthday Cake for Colin Firth’s Best Actor nom. When he won, we lit the candles and all sang Happy Firthday)
If you’d like a bit more than the occasional inspirational quotes in January and April, here’s some books that I have found very insightful. (There are definitely more great ones out there. These are just the few I’ve read.) I mean, you might not, because we totally live in a post-racial society now, but just in case.
Dr. King was a flawed man. He did not always live up to his own proclamations of equality, especially when it came to women. However, he did present some of the most profound ideas of nonviolence, anti-materialism, and anti-militarism to the masses. And a lot of people listened. It’s time we took another look.
I picked up my folks’ old Pentax K1000 from their house this month. I think today is perfect for a photo walk, a cozy sweater, and some hot tea. Thanks for the idea, Paul.
2011 was the year I was brought into the world of karaoke. A welcoming land that will have you practicing songs in your car and making a fool of yourself in front of people who don’t care. With an almost weekly routine, I went through lots and lots of songs, many of them duds, but this was one song I really enjoyed doing. It was even well received (and NOT kicked off stage) at a round of gong karaoke.
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Cigarettes and Coffee - Otis Redding
I discovered the greatness of Otis Redding this year. I went through various favorite songs, but this was the first that I listened to on repeat. So sweet and simple.
It’s early in the morning About a quarter till three I’m sittin’ here talkin’ with my baby Over cigarettes and coffee
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Rolling in the Deep - Adele
Don’t you even pretend that you didn’t scream this song at the top of your lungs at least once this year. Personally? I did it about eighteen times.
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Let Me Roll It - Paul McCartney
I also dove into the Post-Beatles-McCartney catalog this year. Listened to this track over and over.
Honorable McCartney Mentions: Another Day and Junk
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Oh My God, This Weekend - Valentiger
Valentiger’sOh, To Know! was on repeat in my car for the majority of March. It’s all sunny and smooth, fit perfectly with the melting snow.
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The Black Keys - Tighten Up
I caught up with the rest of the world this summer when I discovered The Black Keys. They were the perfect energizing soundtrack at work. Also this video is hilarious.
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Cheap Trick - How Are You?
I bought a record player of my very own this summer, and was thus left with the task of building my record collection. I found Heaven Tonight, brand new in shrink wrap at Vertigo in November. It’s been my go to, non-holiday album.
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I Can’t Make You Love Me - Bonnie Raitt
This one started way back in February, when Alex was lying on the floor of the Hope House, singing along to this song. Both Bon Iver and Adele covered it this year. It had a couple appearances at karaoke. And, to be perfectly frank, it was the underlying theme of all of my romantic encounters this year.
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Nick Cave - Into My Arms
Finally, the epitome of my musical discoveries this year, Nick Cave.
I’d be lying if I said Harry Potter didn’t have something to do with this. I had seen Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in Wings of Desire, but didn’t actually look them up until hearing O, Children in Deathly Hallows.
I listened to the entire discography and fell in love with three albums in particular: Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus, No More Shall We Part, and The Boatman’s Call. Cave’s lyrics are masterpieces of human experience and spiritual questioning.
This song, in particular, struck a chord. Definitely a contender for “First Wedding Dance”.
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That’s all for my year-end compilations. Hope they were enjoyable.
“I’ve always known that the quality of love was the mind, even though the body sometimes refuses this knowledge. The body lives for itself. It lives only to feed and wait for the night. It’s essentially nocturnal. But what of the mind which is born of the sun, William, and must spend thousands of hours of a lifetime awake and aware? Can you balance off the body, that pitiful, selfish thing of night against a whole lifetime of sun and intellect? I don’t know. I only know there has been your mind here and my mind here, and the afternoons have been like none I can remember.”
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Middlesex
“I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974.”
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Bossypants
“And, you know, politics aside, the success of Sarah Palin and women like her is good for all women - except, of course —those who will end up, you know, like, paying for their own rape ‘kit ‘n’ stuff, But for everybody else, it’s a win-win. Unless you’re a gay woman who wants to marry your partner of 20 years - whatever. But for most women, the success of conservative women is good for all of us. Unless you believe in evolution. You know - actually, I take it back. The whole thing’s a disaster.”
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Batwoman Elegy
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Cider House Rules
“Goodnight you princes of Maine, you kings of New England.”
