ApproximatelyInfinite

i heard about england today (definitely moving there this year! :dance:), and i was really hoping to hear about england and postcards on the same day, but hey, i can't complain :P i do hope we hear soon, though. sorry for being so rabid and impatient, debs!

^if that's the case, then i hope slumdog's big win at the golden globes wasn't at the expense of the oscars! :P (i really need to stop being so obsessed with this film :embarassed:) however, BB was nominated for a decent amount at the golden globes too, so who knows.

forgive me if i'm being a noob, but i haven't read all the pages since i last posted. it's not available for download on itunes yet, is it?

i haven't seen benjamin button, but i feel like you both are right in that brad has always been an average actor with above-average looks, and it didn't seem like it would be that much different for this film, but i have to see it before i make a call. i just hope the academy wasn't fooled by all the CGI, thinking he was a better actor, but i bet they're well used to that sort of thing. i'm unhealthily obsessed with slumdog millionaire and its soundtrack, though. anyone who's considering seeing it: SEE IT. best movie i've seen in years, maybe ever.

i've never seen skins besides a clip or two on youtube. it doesn't seem like my kind of show, really, and from what i can tell, dev patel was a TOTALLY different, lower-quality actor in that show. something changed in him for slumdog, and it was amazing, especially for such a young kid. i really need to see benjamin button and revolutionary road, but i don't think they'll be playing anywhere around here :sad:

oops, i forgot there was a similar thread in the lounge >.< i really need to get to see more of these movies very soon. but now i'm in the middle of nowhere, PA, where most of these aren't around or passed through long ago. at any rate, i don't think i have ever loved a serious movie as much as i love slumdog millionaire, so even if i saw every other nominated film, i'd probably still want it to win it all :P. i have yet to see revolutionary road and benjamin button, those are the two i'm dying to see most.

interesting that most of the books aren't exactly contemporary. as much as i respect the classics, i was hoping for more modern, contemporary novels (or at least ones i haven't yet read :P), because that's what i like. but i was thrilled to see the interpreter of maladies on there :nice:

oooh crap, i just started an oscar thread in the entertainment section, completely forgetting about this one in the lounge. anyway. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE ALL THE WAY. i'm quite sad that dev patel isn't up for best actor/supporting actor, though. he totally deserves it, in my opinion.

I don't think there's another thread here for this yet :uhoh: Oscar nominations came out today! :dance: I'm a huge Oscar nerd, so I thought it would be fun to see what other people thought about the big movies of the year and what they think of the nominees and the eventual winners. http://www.oscar.com/nominees/?pn=nominees As you can probably tell by my sig, I'm QUITE happy that Slumdog Millionaire got 10 nominations, second only to Benjamin Button. I wish Dev Patel got nominated for best actor/supporting actor. He totally deserves it, and I love it when young, deserving newcomers win awards for their first real pieces of work. Besides, if Tropic Thunder can get in that category (despite Robert Downey Jr. being totally deserving of it), Dev Patel should be there too. What does everyone else think about the nominees? I'm ashamed to say I have yet to see many of the big movies of the year, but I'm going to try my hardest to fit them in in the next few weeks.

so. i'm officially moving to england next year, it's 100% now :cheesy:. the bad news is that my uni semester starts on 21 september, meaning we'll probably be moving from london to norwich on or around 19 september. big boo. well, there's NOTHING that will keep me from going to wembley, even if i have to lie about it or miss something important. they can't throw me out of the country, right? :P. i hope that we'll be moving up to norwich before that weekend, though, so i can get all settled in there and then just take a train down to london on friday night or something and get a hotel. i was just hoping i wouldn't have to do any creative planning or potential lying or missing things, but this is how my life works :dozey:. anyway, i WILL be there, even if my program manager isn't happy about it :P

we just have more strict censorship laws about how much skin can be shown in public places without warning. the first time i was in england, i was 12 and had just landed at heathrow. one of the FIRST things i saw was on the bus on the road to london, there was a huge billboard for a razor or something, and it was basically a naked woman with a few bubbles over her waist. that's just not something that's legal to show over here :lol:. my friends and i were pretty shocked!

oyy, it figures. but she had some boob-shots in shakespeare in love too, so it's not like this is anything that new. and no way in HELL would any american newspaper or news site be allowed to have an uncensored picture up like that! i was surpised, actually.

wow, i actually forgot she had a movie coming out! i can't wait to see it--besides the fact that gwyneth is in it, it also seems like it has a potentially interesting story.

american is neither a race nor an enthnicity, and he never said that every last american is like that, nor that he is the only one. he's right: lots of stereotypes come from somewhere, including this one, but stereotypes don't HAVE to include every single member of the community they generalize. it's unhealthy and elitist to be unable to insult your own nation for reasons that are demonstratable. it's blind pride in one's nation and unwillingness to see the bad parts of the society you live in that can lead to the most ridiculous of outcomes. i firmly believe that people need to stop thinking their nation is so great just because they live there and are from there and look at it from a more objective point of view. jumping down the throat of every person that has something negative to say about america won't get anywhere, and it's borderline ignorant if it goes much farther. i'm talking in general, not to just you.

is it just me, or does the jonny puppet even MOVE like jonny does in real life? :lol:

that's good, then--blogging and writing and rambling is my songwriting :D. but personally, i think it's better to write about the big, serious, complicated things--it means more in the long run, and it's beneficial to yourself.

i don't think the hope is blind, or in nothing. i think that he needs to be given more of a chance, and i have hope that some things will get a bit better or will be on the mend by the end of the first term because of the relatively small tweaks on the bush regime. i still say slow and steady wins the race, and while i do agree when you talk about long-term success, i don't think americans are going to buy into the policy of suffering for the sake of future generations in the way that countries like china have--we're just too spoiled. we do need the change you're talking about, but i think we need to do with the support of the american people. the support is going to be pulled out if anyone tells americans that they're going to have to make major sacrifices (more sacrifices than the recession has already brought on), which would just make the whole attempt for change moot.

i still believe nadar would have brought too much change too fast for stability and long-lasting success. i don't profess to be any political or historical buff, but to my knowledge, most fast drastic changes haven't worked so well. correct me if i'm wrong. as much as i do want real change, i want that change to be realistic, long lasting, and promising, with all the right and precautionary steps taken. i want a plan that will work, not just solutions bang bang bang. i'm more interested in the long-term success of this country than the economy being healthy and debt-free in my lifetime. i'd rather have the "real" change come in 50-100 years the slow way and have it last indefinitely with success than for a fast change in everything that would be ok for a while, but then might eventually lead to unrest and instability and bring us back to square one, or an even worse place than we're in now. that's what i think fast drastic changes tend to lead to, in everything from governments to everyday life choices. i'm beginning to sound like a broken record. i should just go do my coursework :lol:

i don't really think it matters if anyone reads it--for some people (like me) it's fun to blab, and it can be extremely theraputic. i wouldn't blog, personally, if i was dependent on readers, because most of what i write is self-indulgence anyway. and in previous blogs, i just went ON and ON...i'm trying to keep the posts in this one shorter and digestible in case anyone wants to read it and as a writing excercise to myself. EDIT: :lol: bob loblaw! oh man, i need to buy all of AD on DVD. i miss that show like crazy.

i agree. as excited and hopeful as i am, and no matter what i may seem like by what i say on here, i don't think obama is a god. i don't think he can or will fix everything, i just think he has a damn good shot at getting us a step closer, based on what he says. i actually disagree with obama on several points, most prominently healthcare and gay marriage. however, he's the candidate whose policies most closely fit my own wishes for this country, and i trust him. he may lose my trust, but for now, i'd rather be hopeful, for i don't see a reason to doubt him yet. i also don't really get why people keep saying his policies are just like bush. ok, maybe there are certain areas he's not planning to make a huge change in, like the amount of trade and financing we do with countries like china. but he is ONE president with an unbelievable amount of shit on his plate, and i think with any problem, you have to tackle it in parts and chip away at it rather than making a fast, drastic change that may prove unstable in the long run. to all my limited historical knowledge, fast and drastic changes either haven't lasted long or have led to violence, neither of which would help america. i believe obama has tact, and realizes HE'S not going to change the country to its final perfect form, but as long as we follow his lead for a bit, he has hope that we'll continue on down the right road. i'm willing to follow his lead until he gives me reason not to. also, how are increased taxes on the wealthy, closing gitmo, and making clear steps towards withdrawal in iraq like bush?

i don't believe that just because one president was a disappointment, the next one will be too. he won't fix everything, but i'm giving him a chance to start us down the right road. it's about the experience. if you had the chance to go to a coldplay concert that was also being broadcasted live on TV, would you pass up the chance to go to the concert? maybe you would, but i think most people wouldn't. there is something about actually being there and hearing it and feeling it all live with thousands, and in this case MILLIONS of other people that feel the same way. that's why i love concerts so much, and that's why i'm so sad i couldn't go to this in the way i wanted to go. i can't even describe what seeing obama in person (and shaking his hand and stuttering when he asks you a question) is like--it was the most epic thing that had ever happened to me, in addition to him being elected on the 4th and inaugurated today. the hope is so much more contagious in person, or at least i think so. to each their own :wink: there's also something to be said for lots of people wanting to be part of history. i wish i could have been there even just to say i was there and part of the most momentous, historical day in decades.

yeah, as much as i hate bush, i wouldn't have booed either. i just think that's more disrespect than is due at an official sort of thing like this on such a miraculous day, and when he's out of office anyway. i think the turning the backs thing at bush's second inauguration was ok, but that's different. i wouldn't have clapped, but i feel like not clapping is less severe and less immature and disrespectful than booing.

i don't think that's the reason most americans didn't vote. sure, some didn't vote for that reason, but i think a lot of americans didn't vote because they didn't have enough comprehension of the issues and the proposed solutions to make a call on who to vote for. i would think that a greater number of americans didn't vote out of ignorance than didn't vote out of a calculated decision about what difference it would make. i agree with you in that i think the government is capable of SO much more than it does. but what do you propose to solve this problem, then? what's your idea that is realistic enough to work AND to be supported? candidates like ron paul etc have some great ideas, but i don't believe that their policies would prove any stronger or more beneficial even if they miraculously got enough support to be put in office, i think they would change too much too drastically too fast for the american people to keep support and everything would crumble. as much as i would like our government to change the way it runs, i'm a firm believer in the process of getting there, rather than just a fast, drastic change. i for one believe that obama is a step, albeit a small one, in the right direction of the changes i think you're saying that we need. i don't think the road can be too short to getting to the drastic changes we need, because the chances of the changes sticking with a drastic change are smaller.

i think it's a cult of personality in an optimistic, positive way. people are optimistic about his potential. he may lose it, sure, but for right now, after the past 8 years that we've had, the only thing we can do for now is hope for the best. obama is a cultural icon for real, concrete reasons so far, in my opinion, so i have no reason to lose my hope until he does something that makes me lose it. and like i said before, republican or democrat, conservative or liberal, two things that i think should be universally appreciated are the peaceful change of power from one party to another and the huge step that has been taken forward in the realm of racial equality. regardless of party politics, i can't think of any reason why those two things don't make this a historical, revolutionary day that should be celebrated.

i guess what more can you expect from the outgoing president's former state that's conservative anyway. however, i think that regardless of whether or not people agree with obama's policies or proposed course of action, no one should be able to deny that today is a remarkable, historic day for so many reasons. first of all, it's a fairly rare thing in the world for such a transfer of power to be completely peaceful and smooth...that's an amazing thing in itself. number two, this is a huge step towards racial equality, no one can deny that. in that sense alone, this is a historic day for our country and i believe the world, and at the very least, i think most people should recognize it for that. and number three, this is a chance to improve our country. maybe you don't agree with or like obama, but with any new leader, there's about as big a chance that they'll do right as they'll do wrong. i, for one, am extremely optimistic, because it's obama but also because it's a new leader and a new chance for us.