And the Oscar Goes to...

For the first time, our Oscar pool came down to the final category, Best Picture. We were all tied up. One of us chose The King's Speech; the other The Social Network. Envelope please....

And for the first time ever, the winner is Dan!

I have to say, I was a little surprised...and not in that Melissa Leo, "I can't believe I won even though I took out full page ads asking for votes," false-modesty way. When The Social Network won for Best Editing, Yvonne took a two-point lead. And since Best Editing and Best Picture often go together, I had an awful feeling that The Social Network was going to pull off the big upset. But Randy Newman and Tom Hooper got me back in the game, and The King's Speech came through for the clincher.

Now for the thank yous. I have to thank, of all places, Gawker. Their "Guide to Winning Your Oscar Pool", seemed only half-informed (then again, maybe that's just the jaded Gawker style), but it came up totally clutch on Documentary Short and Animated Short (they did screw me on Best Makeup).

I must also thank Kim and Nien, for hosting us and filling us with tasty snacks and sweet parting gifts. And to my wife, the all-time Oscar champion, Yvonne, who is gracious enough to have already purchased my prize: the 1975 album "For the Whole World to See" by the Detroit proto-punk band Death (!!!).

I love the Oscars!

Countdown to the Oscars

As you know, Yvonne and I have our own Oscar pool. And while this should be statistically impossible, Yvonne wins every year. She's 7-0. I think I almost tied her once, but then stupid Hobbit movie won all the awards that I needed to go to other, better movies. But I digress...

Some years, I do research at the theater. Some years, in the magazines. Most years, I try to parse through previous results on IMDB to look for trends. And usually I declare certain victory.

This year, I haven't really paid any attention or done any homework. So there have been no confident declarations. But maybe that inattention is going to be the key to my victory.

(If you want to help me seal the win, and you know for sure what movie will take home the Oscar for those categories that we all just guess at every year -- sound editing, sound mixing, etc. -- hit a brother up!)

Darren Criss is my new crush

Go here to get the full HD screen effect.

I have always loved a song-and-dance man.

I wish scenes like this happened in my actual life.

My dream: One day, I will learn how to sing and dance and everyone around me will be dressed in pleasantly corresponding costumes and join me.

Greeking Out

Remember that "100 Things" list, the one we started in October of '09, and which was supposed to last us one year? Yeah, well, slow but steady wins the race.

I don't know how many we've got left, but it's still enjoyable to do them together and cross another one off, as we did last night by dining on Greek food in Astoria. I'd never set foot in that nearby part of Queens, and Yvonne hadn't been there since 2003, when she went to check out the apartment of a work acquaintance who thought it might be a desirable place for Yvonne's then-new boyfriend who was moving from LA. So, it was good to acquaint ourselves a little with this part of the city, even on a night where the wind was howling at 60 mph (no joke).

We went out with my work friend Andrew and his wife Sarah to a little spot called Ovelia. Since having a baby 18 months ago, they said they've only gone out together on a Saturday night like four times, so we felt pretty special to get invited. It was a meat-heavy night -- apps of fried meatballs, rotisserie pork and homemade sausage, and then pork chops for Yvonne and lamb chops for me. Super tasty. And then there was dessert. Sarah was talked up as a fiend for sweets; she ordered cappuccino. Thankfully, we could count on our Yvonne, who polished off a deep-fried Snickers bar (it actually looked more like two, and drizzled with chocolate on top and whipped cream on the side, to boot). I had this bowl of "loukoumades" (fried dough balls) topped with Nutella and ice cream. It came served with four spoons -- I guess this was the warning that most people would want to share it. Well, I'm not most people.

Sorry folks no pictures.

(Also, we just saw The King's Speech. I highly recommend. Considerable emotion, and not in the schmaltzy ways you'd expect. And Colin Firth is out-of-this-world good.)

I Swear

For some reason or another, I was very cranky yesterday to the point where I was muttering obscenities to myself (yes, I am talking craaaaaazy cranky....step away!) To get myself to snap out of it, I wandered along the East River with my tripod and camera and my mostly inadequate-for-landscape-photography 50mm lens and my completely inadequate-for every-reason cheap lens that came with my camera (all, which contributed to more swearing). It was an unseasonably warm evening so at least I wasn't f-ing freezing.


59th St Bridge with the Roosevelt Island gondola and the Citi building in view.





Inspired by Woody Allen.


My co-worker Kara suggested the full moon was the cause for my horrible disposition. It's very possible.

When I came home, I made some cookies. I rested my head in Dan's lap and we watched the Larry Sanders Show. I don't know if was the photo expedition, the warm chocolate chips, Gary Shandling or the hair smoothing, but I went to bed feeling mostly better.

Tell Me What I Need to Know

I'm feeling a little disconnected from the modern world lately. A little too shrouded in the past. I make no apologies for liking what I like -- some people are meant to be on the cutting edge, and some people are meant to be historians; the history I like to study just happens to be the LA / canyon music scene of '65-'71, i.e. the high point of America's pop-cultural achievements -- it's just that lately the only TV I watch is The Larry Sanders show, circa 1994 (one exception: Archer), and musically, I've turned from the '60s to the '20s as I've been immersing myself in a biography and music theory book on Gershwin, something I've wanted to do for a long time. And so I have this strange sense of living in an alternate reality, or like I'm not really living at all. As though if I continue like this, 50 years on, I'll be grief-stricken, thinking I've wasted it all, and regret not having tasted the fruits of the now.

Yvonne likes to joke that the '80s completely passed me by -- and for that I can say THANK GOD. (It's pretty true: I think I once counted a total of 15 songs from the '80s that I remember actually hearing in the '80s [yeah, Toto!], and I've still never seen Stand by Me, Top Gun, Sixteen Candles, Rambo, Teen Wolf, Uncle Buck, Say Anything, Red Dawn, Young Guns, Footloose, Lucas, The Terminator, Pretty in Pink, Weekend at Bernie's, Coming to America or Revenge of the Nerds). Can I afford to let another decade pass me by?

So, dear Hamsters...what am I missing? What totally of-the-moment comedy-music-TV-Internet sensation should I be drinking in to confirm my status as a fully living, 31-year-old humanoid in the year 2011? Catch me up! Give me your recommendations!

Just don't expect me to like them.

Happy Valentine's Day

Dan never fails to remind me what a romantic he is. A few days ago, I asked him to name the most romantic spot in New York City. His answer: "I don't think New York is a very romantic city."


Hmm...Woody Allen (and every single other artist out there) must have been wrong.

To my husband and your romantic ways, I love you.

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone! In the spirit of this day of love, enjoy this touching photography series by Lauren Fleishman on couples who have been married more than 50 years. This is my idea of true romance, and I think even Dan would agree.