MISCELLANEOUS MISCELLANY: HAPPY BLOG-BIRTHDAY EDITION

Tomorrow will be the one year anniversary of Out of Focus. Somehow over the past 12 months, I have actually managed to consistently write and post something to this space, and believe me, nobody is more surprised than I. I started. It all started with this post on Feb. 26 last year, and then kicked into gear with reviews of the IFP Spirit Awards and the Oscars. Now here we are, 465 posts later! How time flies when … well, when time flies.

I plan to write about both of those events this weekend, as well as the Razzies, so come back for the “fun.” Meanwhile, a few quickies:

• My Conversation co-conspirator the cinetrix is blogging about tomorrow’s IFP Spirit Awards for Bravo. She has her own little Bravo-generated site and everything. The awards will be televised live on IFC at 5PM Eastern (2 PM Pacific) and then replayed by Bravo at 10 PM, preceded by a “red-carpet” show hosted by Queer Eye’s Carson Kressley at 9 PM.

  As I’ve mentioned before, I’m an IFP member which gives me the privilege of voting on the Spirit Awards. This year, I actually managed to see every nominated film. Members vote for the Spirit Awards by ranking films they’ve seen in order of preference, and then a weighted average is determined. That way, films that haven’t been seen by as many people don’t suffer by comparison. I’ll post either later tonight or tomorrow how I voted, but I will say that generally all the categories were pretty strong, especially Best Documentary and Best Foreign Language Film.

• Also tomorrow night, but not televised, are the Razzie Awards, and because I pay my dues like a good little obsessed film person, I vote on these too. I can’t say that I’ve seen all the Razzie nominees, and I was a bit disappointed that several films didn’t get nominations. I have seen all the best picture nominees, and while White Chicks certainly wasn’t anything special, there were so many movies last year that were far, far worse. I’ll be back to post more about my voting later as well.

• And then there’s that behemoth on Sunday night. You know the one. I live-blogged the Golden Globes, but I’m leaning against doing the same Sunday night. However, between Chris Rock hosting and the freaky test-runs they’re planning to do with giving out some of the awards — having all the nominees on the stage beauty pageant style before announcing the winner? Could someone close to Gil Cates force an intervention and stop this absolutely horrible idea before it actually makes it to air? — I’m sure there will be plenty to discuss. Predicting this year’s winners seems to be more difficult than in recent years. The Golden Globes don’t really have as much of an impact anymore because the deadline for Oscar ballots occurs before the Globe winners are announced. Otherwise, I would say Clive Owen had a great shot at winning the Best Supporting Actor prize, but instead, I’m betting the Million Dollar Baby wave will sweep-it-up for Morgan Freeman. I will be shocked if the big two prizes — Picture and Director — don’t come down to a battle of Eastwood vs. Scorsese with the boxing movie knocking out the frail OCDer, but I’m hoping it goes the other way. Anyway, it’s virtually a mantra now, but more later….

• Not related to the Oscars, but a potential future Razzie winner, I must continue to ask the question why anyone believes that anybody at all gives two shits about Basic Instinct 2. Actually, Sharon Stone very well could win a Razzie tomorrow for her performance in Catwoman, which actually wasn’t so bad as much as a totally clichéd role in a horrible movie. Anyway, the people behind the film, especially Stone and her publicists, must know nobody truly cares because they keep pushing these annoying stories on the poor AP news wire, who I guess feels the responsibility to report everything. For instance, “Basic Instinct 2 will have bisexual love” actually does not give me any reason to believe this film won’t be a complete disaster. Rather, it simply provides more evidence of its probably superior rating on the scale of craptitude!

• And not to get maudlin on what should otherwise be a celebratory occasion (so-to-speak), but the revelation that Hunter S. Thompson shot himself while on the phone with his wife was a bit disturbing, to say the least. Even more disturbing, though, is the seeming nonchalance apparent in this quote reported in the story from his wife Anita Thompson: “He wanted to leave on top of his game. I wish I could have been more supportive of his decision,” she said. “It was a problem for us.” She wishes she could have been “more supportive of his decision” to kill himself? Really? That’s possibly the most absurd thing I’ve ever read, and I really, truly hope it’s taken out of context.

Happy awards weekend everyone. Check back later for more….