Jai Ho!

Jai Ho - Slumdog Millionaire (English Subs)
Uploaded by aka71691

Entirely Frustrating

At work we pool our tips-- for those of you who don't know what that is, it means we toss all our tips in and split them evenly between everyone who works that night. Saturday was (obv) Valentine's Day which is a big night for us. I left early, but I pulled in about $113 in tips. I was sorely disappointed when I got to work today and found out that I only got $54 of that. Apparently it dropped off severely after I left, so my hourly plummeted. While I was still miffed, I didn't feel quite so bad when I found out that the two coworkers who were there from 4-past midnight only pulled $80, and the one who left after me about $10 more than I did. Nobody broke $100, which is kind of dismal in the long run. I think I had top sales, I pushed the specials and the second and third teir wines ($10-$12.50/glass) and sold between $88-160 per table (including two tops), so I'm going with a not so great night. On the upside, I won the $100 prize for the "bottom line" challenge for January! I'm aiming to win the prize every month, so I'm brainstorming lots of ideas to aim for the ultimate $200 prize!

Anyway, Jeremy was up this weekend and it was really great to see him. We watched a couple movies, cuddled up a bit, and went to lunch with Alexandros at Fritti-- which I was pleased to see Jeremy liked! Fritti is this fantastic Italian restaurant sistered with Sotto Sotto, they're known for their authentic Neopolitan pizzas. We had a pancetta, caramelized onion, and hot pepper pizza and split some calamari with Alexandros, then went to see Coraline. We missed a showing of Coraline that wasn't an hour and a half away, so we went ahead and saw Slumdog Millionaire.

If you haven't seen Slumdog Millionaire, stop reading this and go see it. Absolutely stunning film, the acting is amazing and the direction is brilliant, and the story is much more interesting than I ever gave it credit for from online synopses. If you don't know the synopsis: A "slumdog" coffee boy in Bombay goes on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" and makes it to the final round. He's taken in to the police under suspicion of cheating after winning Rs. 10k and as the movie goes on, we find out the things in his life that cause him to know the answers to questions that someone with no formal education and no money should know. Some of it is extremely sad and some of it is funny and some of it is uplifting, and the ending is just... it's a perfect parallel climax and denoument all at once, it's just brilliant. I would be entirely happy if they won Best Picture, and I think it would be a triumph for the Oscars to get back on par with a win like that.

Plus, I have three words that mean this movie rocks above all else: Bollywood Dance Scene.

What, then.

Alright, there's not much else to say, so I'm going to work a few more minutes on the cards I'm doing up for Becca and then hit the hay so that I can not only help finish out the storage unit but go to Target and get some new Sharpies! And a bunch of other stuff. Yaaay for gift cards!

My Oscar Picks

Best Picture:
I haven't seen any of them yet, but I'm betting it'll either be Benjamin Button or Frost/Nixon. We love a good political movie for best picture.

Leading Actor:
Frank Langella- Frost/Nixon

Leading Actress:
I haven't seen any of these yet, either, but I'm going between Meryl Streep and Kate Winslet... I really want Winslet, but Streep's a shoo in...

Supporting Actor:
Heath Ledger. If for some reason he doesn't, then I'm hoping they'll go with Robert Downy, Jr. I mean, I love Phillip Seymour Hoffman, but it's about damn time comedic roles won more Oscars. We started with Streep a couple years ago, if we can't give it to Ledger (who does seriously deserve it), let's give it to Downy.

Supporting Actress:
Amy Adams and Marissa Tomei are both good choices, but I'm going to go with Marissa Tomei on this one.

Best Director:
From what I hear, it'll be between Benjamin Button and Slumdog Millionaire. I'm hoping for Elyse's sake it's Slumdog-- It's on my queue so I'll hopefully be able to say more about it soon.

Best Screenplay:
It'll probably be Milk, but I'm rooting for WALL-E.

Previously-Based Screenplay:
I'm voting Frost/Nixon

Cinematography:
The Dark Knight

Costume Design:
Australia

Makeup:
This is a tough one-- all three of the movies nominated (Benjamin Button, Dark Knight, and Hellboy) all took some serious talent and design prowess... I'm going to put my money on Benjamin Button though since they do the whole aging backwards thing.

Music:
WALL-E

Best Original Song:
WALL-E

Sound:
WALL-E

Sound Editing:
WALL-E or Dark Knight

Visual Effects:
Another toughie-- Benjamin Button, Dark Knight, and Iron Man were all really well done, but I'm going to go with Iron Man or Dark Knight; especially if Button wins for makeup

Animated Feature:
WALL-E, duh. I mean, I liked Kung Fu Panda and I heard Bolt was cute, but let's face it-- WALL-E is the best.

I'll end with Foreign Film just because usually the one I've actually heard of when I'm not paying attention wins-- we'll say Vals Im Bashir (Israel) takes it.

If you want to see the full list, check out IMDB. I'm excited-- this is the first year it hasn't been a total disappointment, even though I will hurt someone if Angelina Jolie wins. No, really. I'm serious.

Anyway, we'll recap on the 22nd and see if I was right about any of them. Again, I've seen almost none of these so I'm going on what little I know. I'll feel very special indeed if I get any of them right!