Sunday, March 5, 2006

The Weekend

On Friday night, Mr. Octopus and I walked to our neighborhood movie theater, the small but great Los Feliz 3 on Vermont, to catch the last showing of Capote (excellent movie). The fact that we can walk to this theater, and that it is never crowded, might be the best thing about our neightborhood. We walked there again tonight, right after the Oscars. We'd just seen that Amex commercial with Robert DeNiro and got nostalgic for New York. To make us feel better we put on our jackets and walked over to Vermont. It's not New York, but it's a satisfactory substitute as far as LA goes. In a very unwalkable city, this little stretch of Vermont is a real comfort. Tonight we walked past the movie theater (Transamerica and Brokeback Mountain were the other movies showing) and into Skylight Books, which is right next door. I went straight to the LA section and picked up books on LA hikes and then mosied over to the travel section where I flipped through pages of Lonely Planet Baja and Frommers Argentina. After about a half hour at the bookstore, we made the walk back home, thinking less about New York and more about tomorrow being Monday.

6 comments:

Ron said...

God bless the Academy for finally recognizing Mr. Hoffman...it's about time.

Anonymous said...

the oscars last night was great. John did a great job as a host and kept true to his political humor. It was weird though how the audience seemed subdued in their reactions. That seemed unusual for a Hollywood crowd. Couple of good moments through the night, but the best was Crash. Never did I think it would get to be nominated or even win an Oscar when it came out. So the Academy can get it right sometimes.

Oh, and as a fellow-recent-deserter of New York, I feel ya on the nolstalgia.

JEM

chanchow said...

I missed the first hour or so of the Oscars so I didn't see the opening. Was it great?

I'm not surprised that Brokeback Mountain didn't win, but I'm surprised that Crash did. I thought Crash was OK, but not great. I secretly thought Capote had a shot (was I the only one?). I really like that movie, the more I think about it. Haven't seen Walk the Line, so I can't say anything about Reese Witherspoon, except that I could've done without her annoying, valedictorian speech.

As for Oscar glam, Michelle Williams had the best dress.

Anonymous said...

Yes, John Stewart was great. His opening speech was pretty good, kept to his Daily Show style. Opened with a sketch that had other actors participating (Clooney, Halle Berry).

Didn't see Capote or Walk the Line, but will now. I checked out the Constant Gardner last night. As much as I think Rachel Weisze is a good actress, I think that role wasn't much to deserve a supporting oscar. Not much meat to it.

I agree about Michelle Williams' dress -- it was beautiful and original.

JEM

Anonymous said...

yes...seduced by the scorsese amex commercial!?! that's such a good commercial. pierre loves it...and the music too, done by philip glass, his fav.

i saw most of the award show and thought that john did a pretty good job too. but it wasn't that exciting minus the crash win...but is it ever really that amazing? so it was fine.

i thought crash was just ok too. and i didn't think it should've won. though i didn't necessarily think that brokeback should've won either. but i thought it was better than crash. but i definitely think that capote is a way better film than either.

i liked michelle williams' dress too...and uma thurman's and amy adams. poor helena bonham carter though...somebody suit her back up in an Edwardian dress quick!

ps did you see the kitty at skylight books? i haven't been there in a while, but there's an adorable cat who lounges about, usually hangin in the front display windows. i love it when bookstores have pet cats.

chanchow said...

Yes, I know the little tabby cat at Skylight. Her name is Lucy. She's great! I was wearing my big gray sleeping bag coat last time I was there and she reached out to me. Maybe she thought I was a enormous gray kitty!

About those Oscar dresses, Uma looked great, as usual. She's got a good stylist, that woman. What I don't understand is why people are raving about J Lo's and Charlize Theron's dress. Barf. Thumbs down also to Reese Witherspoon's get up (too much bling for her little body). And Helena Bonham Carter clearly needs some major help. It looks like Tim Burton had a hand in picking her dress.