Sunday, January 30, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
In which I take the weekend off
In an effort to get away from the computer a little more often, I'll be taking the weekend off. But just so you don't miss me and all my pithy updates, here's what you can imagine me doing this weekend:
- Going to have breakfast at Amacord on Saturday (I'll have the Wiener Früstuck with a portion of Schinken, and a caffe latte).
- Going to S.B./M.B.'s for dinner.
- Walking down to Schönbrunn to pay my respects to the Fake Roman Ruins.
- Baking something Sunday morning that I will declare to be tasty, regardless of how it actually tastes.
Friday, January 28, 2011
In which I watch every single film nominated for an Academy Award
So if you remember that my friend S.B. and I go every year to watch the Oscar broadcast in the middle of the night ("previously on Vienna in 250 Words a Day"), then you'll also remember that this is the second year that we'll be attempting to watch all of the nominated films before the ceremony.
"All of them? Even the documentaries?" Well no, obviously not. S.B.'s seen one of them, and it's the only one I've heard of so I'll probably just vote that one. I'm sure that's probably how the Academy does it anyway.
But we will certainly try to see as many of them as we possibly can and especially all the best picture nominees. (Last year I was so incredibly informed about all the nominees and could speak quite expertly about their chances for winning, despite the fact that I couldn't keep straight the titles A Serious Man and A Single Man. I had to keep saying "The Coen Brothers One and The Colin Firth One.")
This project is great, but has its challenges.
First, the challenges.
Vienna is usually pretty behind when it comes to film releases. Sometimes six months to a year behind. [Ed's note, sometimes we get them one or two days early, like with Event Films such as Harry Potter. Yay time difference!]
And then, if they don't think there will be a market here, some films may just never come out. So tragic.
Fortunately for us, the dvd release schedule is not always tied to the cinema release, and sometimes a film is available on dvd before it's in cinemas because of it's release on the German market.
Last year Crazy Heart just didn't make it in time though, and I had to content myself with watching the trailer over and over again and figuring that everyone really likes Jeff Bridges. We were only able to complete last year's Oscar 2010 collection in May or June I think. (But it was worth the wait, Crazy Heart was good.)
Not being able to see all these movies way before means a pretty rigorous schedule leading up to the awards ceremony. But we handle it like pros. We'll have to be in the cinema at least once or twice a week, with a dvd or two thrown in for good measure. To be honest, we were further along this time last year. We started with the other award shows to guess what we'd need to see, so we already had several under our belt by the time the announcements were made. We didn't pay as much attention this year (plus the Golden Globes had Burlesque in there, so we couldn't really take them seriously).
And then, all those cinema tickets add up, and it's kind of an expensive project.
It's really great though.
We're already going to the Oscar broadcast, so it's nice to be informed. And as you know, I'm into film, so it's nice to be informed about something I already like. And then it's fun to be able to make an educated prediction of the winners to maybe win Fabulous Prizes! at the event.
But also, it kind of forces me outside of my normal viewing to see things that I might not otherwise see. To give you a hint of my normal viewing habits, every year when the nominations come out I have already seen 4 of the 5 films nominated for Best Visual Effects (and for some reason, Editing. I guess I really have my thumb on the pulse of the Editing Industry). Last year I'm sure I wouldn't have seen The White Ribbon, because everyone says Haneke's films are always so depressing - which it was not. And I would not have expected that I would have liked The Hurt Locker - but I did. And I would not have otherwise have gone to see That Sandra Bullock Movie that won her the Oscar - because it was in fact very, very terrible.
Maybe I should have put that last bit in with the negative points.
So join us next time when I start writing up the reviews of some of the nominated films I've seen so far.
"All of them? Even the documentaries?" Well no, obviously not. S.B.'s seen one of them, and it's the only one I've heard of so I'll probably just vote that one. I'm sure that's probably how the Academy does it anyway.
But we will certainly try to see as many of them as we possibly can and especially all the best picture nominees. (Last year I was so incredibly informed about all the nominees and could speak quite expertly about their chances for winning, despite the fact that I couldn't keep straight the titles A Serious Man and A Single Man. I had to keep saying "The Coen Brothers One and The Colin Firth One.")
This project is great, but has its challenges.
First, the challenges.
Vienna is usually pretty behind when it comes to film releases. Sometimes six months to a year behind. [Ed's note, sometimes we get them one or two days early, like with Event Films such as Harry Potter. Yay time difference!]
And then, if they don't think there will be a market here, some films may just never come out. So tragic.
Fortunately for us, the dvd release schedule is not always tied to the cinema release, and sometimes a film is available on dvd before it's in cinemas because of it's release on the German market.
Last year Crazy Heart just didn't make it in time though, and I had to content myself with watching the trailer over and over again and figuring that everyone really likes Jeff Bridges. We were only able to complete last year's Oscar 2010 collection in May or June I think. (But it was worth the wait, Crazy Heart was good.)
Not being able to see all these movies way before means a pretty rigorous schedule leading up to the awards ceremony. But we handle it like pros. We'll have to be in the cinema at least once or twice a week, with a dvd or two thrown in for good measure. To be honest, we were further along this time last year. We started with the other award shows to guess what we'd need to see, so we already had several under our belt by the time the announcements were made. We didn't pay as much attention this year (plus the Golden Globes had Burlesque in there, so we couldn't really take them seriously).
And then, all those cinema tickets add up, and it's kind of an expensive project.
It's really great though.
We're already going to the Oscar broadcast, so it's nice to be informed. And as you know, I'm into film, so it's nice to be informed about something I already like. And then it's fun to be able to make an educated prediction of the winners to maybe win Fabulous Prizes! at the event.
But also, it kind of forces me outside of my normal viewing to see things that I might not otherwise see. To give you a hint of my normal viewing habits, every year when the nominations come out I have already seen 4 of the 5 films nominated for Best Visual Effects (and for some reason, Editing. I guess I really have my thumb on the pulse of the Editing Industry). Last year I'm sure I wouldn't have seen The White Ribbon, because everyone says Haneke's films are always so depressing - which it was not. And I would not have expected that I would have liked The Hurt Locker - but I did. And I would not have otherwise have gone to see That Sandra Bullock Movie that won her the Oscar - because it was in fact very, very terrible.
Maybe I should have put that last bit in with the negative points.
So join us next time when I start writing up the reviews of some of the nominated films I've seen so far.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
In which I prepare to watch the Oscars at three in the morning
So as you may remember, my friend S.B. and I have gone to watch the Oscars the last couple of years. As I'm in Vienna, this means heading out to a local cinema at 12:30 to get our seats in time for the red carpet interviews. The actual ceremony starts at 2:00 or 2:30 and finishes somewhere on the other side of 5:00.
Though you may not believe it, this is really the best way to watch them.
First of all, we'll be in a big theatre.
Nothing says "I'm doing something exciting" like being in a room full of a couple hundred other people who are excited. There's an MC. There's games. There's free champagne for anyone who comes in an evening gown or a tuxedo, but I've never managed that. I love any occasion involving costumes (references available upon request), but it's kind of cold in a cinema in Vienna in February at three o'clock in the morning. Still, despite not quite looking as good as the nominees, there will be a palatable excitement in the room. You just can't drum up a palatable excitement on your couch.
Plus, and this is something that the cinema itself has been recently sharing as part of its 50th anniversary, they've held movie premieres in this cinema. (Spartacus no less. Check out the little note they received from Kirk Douglas.) So that's a big deal. It sure beats a couch.
It's in the middle of the night.
I know what you're thinking, that sounds really inconvenient. Shouldn't that be a disadvantage? No, actually it makes it more exciting. There is something so funny about being someplace at a time when it's usually closed. Maybe it's just the 'kid locked up in a toy store overnight' thing. Or the decadence of knowing that you'll be heading home at around the same time as all those other suckers are on their way to work. But making a complete break in normal routine elevates the event to VERY VERY EXCITING. This is really Event Television.
The key to making it work, of course, is the red carpet. I can't stress enough how important it is to watch the red carpet. Heading out to a cinema at 12:30 is not that bad. Trying to leave the house at 2:30 would be impossible. Obviously. But the red carpet gets you out before you seriously start to think about being sleepy and is great at further building the tension. ("Yay! Look what she's wearing! I hope she wins just so I get to see that dress again!")
I think a lot of things could be made more interesting by special event middle-of-the-night scheduling. For example: I'm not a fan of grocery shopping (too much of an understatement?), but would I attend a special once a year night owl event with several hundred excited shoppers? Absolutely. A three A.M. tax file-off? Sounds fun. [Ed's note, that event actually exists and is just called 'waiting until the last minute to file'.]
I thought I had a third reason but now I can't think of it.
But those other reasons basically cover it: it's in a big, fancy cinema and it's in the middle of the night. It's a lot of fun.
Though you may not believe it, this is really the best way to watch them.
First of all, we'll be in a big theatre.
Nothing says "I'm doing something exciting" like being in a room full of a couple hundred other people who are excited. There's an MC. There's games. There's free champagne for anyone who comes in an evening gown or a tuxedo, but I've never managed that. I love any occasion involving costumes (references available upon request), but it's kind of cold in a cinema in Vienna in February at three o'clock in the morning. Still, despite not quite looking as good as the nominees, there will be a palatable excitement in the room. You just can't drum up a palatable excitement on your couch.
Plus, and this is something that the cinema itself has been recently sharing as part of its 50th anniversary, they've held movie premieres in this cinema. (Spartacus no less. Check out the little note they received from Kirk Douglas.) So that's a big deal. It sure beats a couch.
It's in the middle of the night.
I know what you're thinking, that sounds really inconvenient. Shouldn't that be a disadvantage? No, actually it makes it more exciting. There is something so funny about being someplace at a time when it's usually closed. Maybe it's just the 'kid locked up in a toy store overnight' thing. Or the decadence of knowing that you'll be heading home at around the same time as all those other suckers are on their way to work. But making a complete break in normal routine elevates the event to VERY VERY EXCITING. This is really Event Television.
The key to making it work, of course, is the red carpet. I can't stress enough how important it is to watch the red carpet. Heading out to a cinema at 12:30 is not that bad. Trying to leave the house at 2:30 would be impossible. Obviously. But the red carpet gets you out before you seriously start to think about being sleepy and is great at further building the tension. ("Yay! Look what she's wearing! I hope she wins just so I get to see that dress again!")
I think a lot of things could be made more interesting by special event middle-of-the-night scheduling. For example: I'm not a fan of grocery shopping (too much of an understatement?), but would I attend a special once a year night owl event with several hundred excited shoppers? Absolutely. A three A.M. tax file-off? Sounds fun. [Ed's note, that event actually exists and is just called 'waiting until the last minute to file'.]
I thought I had a third reason but now I can't think of it.
But those other reasons basically cover it: it's in a big, fancy cinema and it's in the middle of the night. It's a lot of fun.
In which I start a blog
I'm not really good at staying in touch. I'm the slowest email-er around. The time difference makes calling difficult. And I'm horrible at sharing pictures (though you are welcome to come by and peruse my collection of undeveloped rolls of film).
"So here you are blogging?", I hear you ask. Yeah, who knows? Maybe it's easier.
Also, I've got to get used to writing A LOT of blogs for that other big project we're working on (you know, the one with all that made up stuff?), so at the very least, this is good practice for me.
And at the most? You'll get to hear from me: Day to day updates from Vienna! Dispatches from foreign climes! Little snapshots of my life in approximately 250 words! Maybe even actual snapshots!
(I'm not guaranteeing actual snapshots, mind. And I don't even know if I've used 'climes' correctly. But I'm going to give it all a shot.)
The funny thing is that none of you are even reading this yet - or at least not while I write this. I've got to build up a few of these to see if I can even maintain this enough before I can start telling people about it (because let's face it, I don't have a great track record). So if you're reading this, I'm already doing pretty well. Maybe you won't even read this entry, because by the time you get here there will be hundreds and hundreds of other posts and you'll never make it all the way down to this one.
So maybe it doesn't matter that it's not exactly 250 words?
"So here you are blogging?", I hear you ask. Yeah, who knows? Maybe it's easier.
Also, I've got to get used to writing A LOT of blogs for that other big project we're working on (you know, the one with all that made up stuff?), so at the very least, this is good practice for me.
And at the most? You'll get to hear from me: Day to day updates from Vienna! Dispatches from foreign climes! Little snapshots of my life in approximately 250 words! Maybe even actual snapshots!
(I'm not guaranteeing actual snapshots, mind. And I don't even know if I've used 'climes' correctly. But I'm going to give it all a shot.)
The funny thing is that none of you are even reading this yet - or at least not while I write this. I've got to build up a few of these to see if I can even maintain this enough before I can start telling people about it (because let's face it, I don't have a great track record). So if you're reading this, I'm already doing pretty well. Maybe you won't even read this entry, because by the time you get here there will be hundreds and hundreds of other posts and you'll never make it all the way down to this one.
So maybe it doesn't matter that it's not exactly 250 words?
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