I just hit the (snowy) ground in Indianapolis and, since I have nearly five hours to kill at the airport before a friend arrives, I decided to pony up the funds to sit in Delta's SkyLounge for a few hours so I could get writing done. I'm busy working on Vittorio's story, TANGO WITH A PRINCE, and I can't wait to have everyone read it when it hits the stands this summer. It will be the third installment in my Royal Scandals series (following SCANDAL WITH A PRINCE and HONEYMOON WITH A PRINCE.)
In the meantime, the reason I'm in Indianapolis: Tomorrow I'm speaking at the Public Librarians Association conference. If you're one of the hundreds of librarians in attendance, come learn more about the romance genre tomorrow at 2pm in rooms 244-245 at the Indiana Conference Center. I'll be on a panel with several other romance authors, including Elizabeth Boyle and Sarah MacLean. Ask us anything! There is also a booksigning in conjunction with the talk, so this is a great opportunity to grab a few autographed romance titles for yourself or your library.
And...how many of you cribbed your Oscar picks from those I posted in my last blog? Did you win your pool? I did! Twenty-one correct out of twenty-four. Boo-yah! Hope you won, too!
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Saturday, March 1, 2014
Oscar Predictions 2014
The calendar has rolled to March again, which means not only have baseball players have reported to spring training (yippee!), it's time for me to get to the plate
and swing at the curveball known as Predicting the Academy Award Winners.
A former coworker of my husband’s runs a sizeable pool every year. I don’t always win, but I’ve won frequently enough to be called out as The One To Beat. (Not that this amps up the pressure, right?) Here are my picks for this year...if you haven’t seen any of this year’s movies and need to crib, feel free. You can take me to task on Monday if I've lost my touch.
Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave
NOTE: See my big fat caveat at the bottom of this post.
Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
NOTE: Conventional wisdom says not to split your Best Picture and Best Director picks. However, a healthy number of Hollywood pundits are doing exactly that, going with 12 Years a Slave for Best Picture and Curarón for Gravity as Best Director. That split also falls in line with what happened at many of the earlier awards shows this season.
Best Actor: Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
NOTE: Closest thing there is to a lock in the acting categories.
Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
Best Animated Feature Film: Frozen
Best Foreign Film: La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty), Italy
Best Original Screenplay: Her
NOTE: This will be a tight race, kids. Her put the “original” in Best Original Screenplay. However, American Hustle (rightfully) earned a pile of nominations and I’d be stunned to see the night end without it earning a single statue. This is an easy place for Academy voters to award the film. If you're so inclined, pick Hustle here.
Best Adapted Screenplay: 12 Years a Slave
Best Production Design: The Great Gatsby
NOTE: 12 Years a Slave is also a strong contender here. However, I think the Academy likes spectacle in this category, and Gatsby is a spectacle.
Best Costume Design: The Great Gatsby
Best Original Song: “Let it Go,” Frozen
Best Original Score: Gravity
Best Documentary Feature: 20 Feet From Stardom
NOTE: I didn’t see the entire documentary, but saw enough of it—and news pieces about its backstory—to find it fascinating. Also, its upbeat tone is the type Academy voters love.
Best Film Editing: Captain Phillips
NOTE: I’m taking a leap on this one. If you want to play it safe, go with Gravity.
Best Cinematography: Gravity
NOTE: In my heart of hearts, I don’t want this to go to Gravity. I want it to go to Nebraska. But I also want to win my pool.
Best Makeup: Dallas Buyers Club
Best Sound Editing: Gravity
Best Sound Mixing: Gravity
Best Visual Effects: Gravity
Best Documentary (Short Subject): The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life
NOTE: Want to win your pool? You know you do. Go with me on this one.
Best Animated Short Film: Get A Horse!
Best Live Action Short Film: Just Before Losing Everything
NOTE: Another tough category. If you go with film critics, several are picking Helium (the sentimental story of a dying boy) while others like The Voorman Problem (a jailhouse psychiatrist faces an astute prisoner who believes he is God.) I’m going against both by picking the story of a woman running from an abusive husband while trying to protect her children.
And now my big fat caveat: I am probably the one person who didn’t oooh and aaah over Gravity. While I thought it was a solid film, it it didn’t rock my world to the extent most film connoisseurs claim it should have. I watched it to kill time during a long plane flight…but even then, I found myself picking up my Kindle and reading mid-movie, waiting for Sandy Bullock to hit the button that would either doom her to a cold death in space or send her hurtling home. As a story, I found it predictable and somewhat slow. On the other hand, I can't imagine anyone picking up a book while watching 12 Years a Slave. So while I picked Gravity to win a number of technical awards, I couldn’t bring myself to jump on the Best Picture juggernaut. Take that bias into account when making your own picks. If you liked Gravity, you should still feel confident checking a lot of boxes on your ballot. Popular opinion is with you.
A former coworker of my husband’s runs a sizeable pool every year. I don’t always win, but I’ve won frequently enough to be called out as The One To Beat. (Not that this amps up the pressure, right?) Here are my picks for this year...if you haven’t seen any of this year’s movies and need to crib, feel free. You can take me to task on Monday if I've lost my touch.
Best Picture: 12 Years a Slave
NOTE: See my big fat caveat at the bottom of this post.
Best Director: Alfonso Cuarón, Gravity
NOTE: Conventional wisdom says not to split your Best Picture and Best Director picks. However, a healthy number of Hollywood pundits are doing exactly that, going with 12 Years a Slave for Best Picture and Curarón for Gravity as Best Director. That split also falls in line with what happened at many of the earlier awards shows this season.
Best Actor: Matthew McConaughey, Dallas Buyers Club
Best Actress: Cate Blanchett, Blue Jasmine
NOTE: Closest thing there is to a lock in the acting categories.
Best Supporting Actor: Jared Leto, Dallas Buyers Club
Best Supporting Actress: Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave
Best Animated Feature Film: Frozen
Best Foreign Film: La Grande Bellezza (The Great Beauty), Italy
Best Original Screenplay: Her
NOTE: This will be a tight race, kids. Her put the “original” in Best Original Screenplay. However, American Hustle (rightfully) earned a pile of nominations and I’d be stunned to see the night end without it earning a single statue. This is an easy place for Academy voters to award the film. If you're so inclined, pick Hustle here.
Best Adapted Screenplay: 12 Years a Slave
Best Production Design: The Great Gatsby
NOTE: 12 Years a Slave is also a strong contender here. However, I think the Academy likes spectacle in this category, and Gatsby is a spectacle.
Best Costume Design: The Great Gatsby
Best Original Song: “Let it Go,” Frozen
Best Original Score: Gravity
Best Documentary Feature: 20 Feet From Stardom
NOTE: I didn’t see the entire documentary, but saw enough of it—and news pieces about its backstory—to find it fascinating. Also, its upbeat tone is the type Academy voters love.
Best Film Editing: Captain Phillips
NOTE: I’m taking a leap on this one. If you want to play it safe, go with Gravity.
Best Cinematography: Gravity
NOTE: In my heart of hearts, I don’t want this to go to Gravity. I want it to go to Nebraska. But I also want to win my pool.
Best Makeup: Dallas Buyers Club
Best Sound Editing: Gravity
Best Sound Mixing: Gravity
Best Visual Effects: Gravity
Best Documentary (Short Subject): The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life
NOTE: Want to win your pool? You know you do. Go with me on this one.
Best Animated Short Film: Get A Horse!
Best Live Action Short Film: Just Before Losing Everything
NOTE: Another tough category. If you go with film critics, several are picking Helium (the sentimental story of a dying boy) while others like The Voorman Problem (a jailhouse psychiatrist faces an astute prisoner who believes he is God.) I’m going against both by picking the story of a woman running from an abusive husband while trying to protect her children.
And now my big fat caveat: I am probably the one person who didn’t oooh and aaah over Gravity. While I thought it was a solid film, it it didn’t rock my world to the extent most film connoisseurs claim it should have. I watched it to kill time during a long plane flight…but even then, I found myself picking up my Kindle and reading mid-movie, waiting for Sandy Bullock to hit the button that would either doom her to a cold death in space or send her hurtling home. As a story, I found it predictable and somewhat slow. On the other hand, I can't imagine anyone picking up a book while watching 12 Years a Slave. So while I picked Gravity to win a number of technical awards, I couldn’t bring myself to jump on the Best Picture juggernaut. Take that bias into account when making your own picks. If you liked Gravity, you should still feel confident checking a lot of boxes on your ballot. Popular opinion is with you.
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