while many things have been written about the sopranos, about grey’s anatomy (which didn’t even win this year), about actors james gandolfini (who didn’t even win this year either; who must have felt crestfallen after hearing the presentors announce “james” followed by “spader” instead) and katherine heigl (because she’s a popular chick, so why not?).
as for me, these two virtually unsung supporting actors deserve their statuettes the most:
best supporting actor in a comedy series: jeremy piven as ari gold in entourage
it’s the agent of a young hollywood superstar: slave to the bureaucratic underpinnings of agency work, frontliner to the volatile world of showbusiness. perfectly fitting into the high-strung, explosive character of ari gold, jeremy piven rightfully deserves both emmys he won for the same role, having bagged the title two years in a row. now that’s something we can “let’s hug it out, bitch” for.
best supporting actress in a comedy series: jaime pressly as joy darville in my name is earl
i wouldn’t know how other viewers feel about tina fey losing to jaime pressly, but i’d always choose the one who makes me laugh out loud. taking the slapstick out of things that make you guffaw, jaime pressly’s joy darville rolls out the barrel with her white trash brogue and trailer park smarts. playing the permanently inconsiderate, occasionally raunchy joy had earned jaime a nomination last year, but won it only this year. and i’m thinking, it’s about time.
i failed to mention two other books i finished from july this year.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being
i’d probably place this after Magical Thinking. i typically like works permeated with existential themes, especially those that freely use philosophy as its groundwork, but perhaps because it had taken me so long to buy then finally read this book, and so many praises have been sung to me about it by my peers, the reading experience somehow turned lackluster and anti-climactic.
otherwise, i would have liked it very much.
Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister
i have to rank it beneath Unbearable Lightness. the concept is spectacular, the storytelling is superb, but the theme doesn’t exactly hit home for me right now. perhaps if i were in my younger state of mind and feeling insecure about so many things, i would have preferred it over any of the other books i read this year.
preference relies so much on timing.
Filed under: literature
due to my condition (and dire circumstances consequential to such condition), i am compelled to read more. not that the rate by which i devour books is impressive by any standard, but i don’t think i have moved from one book to the next with hardly any gaps before. although, i have always been very fond of literature.
like i mentioned in a previous entry, this must be my current form of escape. my source of vicarious pleasure. while working in a thankless environment, while waiting for my fortunes to shift.
since july, i have finished the following books (in order of favorite):
1./2. The Remedy, Michelle Lovric
perhaps i am biased towards period works, especially those that involve voluminous garments, miles and miles of lace, layers and layers of extraordinary smells, and a myriad of textures as only i can imagine. i like it even more that the story moves from one flamboyant city to another. and i love the love between the two main characters.
1./2. Water for Elephants, Sara Gruen
it’s a circus tale. and you know how such stories can only either be childishly effervescent or disturbingly peculiar. this one is neither. because it’s a toil, travel and business story too. replete with the multicolors of the bizarre and the beautiful.
3. Magical Thinking, Augusten Burroughs
(see previous entry on subject book)
4. Silent to the Bone, E.L. Konigsburg
it’s not bad. in fact, it’s quite engaging. i am a huge konigsburg fan after all. but after from the mixed-up files of mrs. basil e. frankweiler and the view from saturday, her two newbery-awarded books, i must say i was expecting to feel the same amount of elation and triumph in the end. thus the slight disappointment.
5. The Pirate’s Daughter, Robert Girardi
i wasn’t entertained. for some reason, it’s sensual tones was quite unsettling for me. and the imagery were a little overkill. not very believable, granting this isn’t fantasy nor magical realism. but i finished it anyway.
Filed under: pop
wow, huge blow for the magical world of disney. and huge fodder for that monster called media.
here’s my two cents: all right, so maybe she wasn’t thinking when she had these photos taken (it is rumored that these were in the presence of on-screen/off-screen boyfriend zac efron), but who would have imagined nor meant to have such racy, private pictures leaked, right? but what the hell was she thinking in admitting that these are indeed her photos?!?! could she not have just denied it to death?! i mean, say that this person must be some dead-ringer?
let’s see, could any of these have prompted her into admitting?: a) disney has a stronghold on her with a contract and she wants desperately to get out of it, b) now that she’s 18, she wants to discard the sweet, wholesome image and show people that she is ready for mature roles (oh man, but jessica biel didn’t have to resort to scandal post-7th heaven!), c) no publicity is bad publicity.
that thoughtless honesty could cost disney so much! now that the parents of her fans (most of whom must be values-driven suburban folks, overprotective soccer moms trying their very best to keep their kids from growing up too fast, much less learning too soon about such circulating perversions) have seen a different side of her, patrons of the movie and its merchandise may decline rapidly. but i wouldn’t know, really. i’m just guessing so…
do you think she has ruined her career? or just steered it towards a different direction?
ok, i know some of us want to see it (pervs :p), so here’s the link:
http://www.crazydaysandnights.net/2007/01/vanessa-hudgens-naked.html
and the pre-full frontal nudity:
http://www.crazydaysandnights.net/2007/09/vanessa-before-she-got-naked.html
hey, if these were taken before she turned 18, are we in trouble for looking at them?
Filed under: thinking
ok, so maybe it’s because i’ve read j.d. salinger’s catcher in the rye and dave eggers’ a heartbreaking work of staggering genius and (just recently) augusten burroughs’ magical thinking. all of them vibrant with unabashed and unbridled lashings for things and people they feel strongly against, very often (for burroughs and eggers) peppered with vilely hilarious tongue-in-cheek remarks on the nature of their situations.
turns out these are also my guilty pleasures.
thanks to stringent catholic schooling, i have bottled-up odium in abundance. as no evil comments must pass through my lips nor fall from my pen (or pc monitor, for that matter), i have developed a knack for squeezing intense loathing and hatred into the deepest, darkest recesses of my mind (which, well, turn out to be the dumpsite for the subconscious, so they give me bizarre dreams).
i have lost that knack, so now i openly profess passionate dislike.
so i’d like to know, is that so bad???
———-
in my previous entry, i have mentioned the unfortunate incident involving a detestable person and heart attack. i must say that i also “magically thought” for something to happen to his closest cohort. last week, i was informed that black spots were found in his lungs, likely to be cancer or some other gravely serious pulmonary ailment.
then i said, “that’s great news. serves him right.” to which the harbinger of such sordid news casts widened eyes and gasps, “oh my god, how could you say such a thing?”
i look at him quizzically and say, “why, did you really think i’d feel sorry for the guy?”
he tries ardently to come up with a politically correct answer but fails miserably.
