I am screaming and punching myself

Like a fine sausage: choice links

Over at the Carnival of Cinema, there are a lot of great posts about various movies. Some really thoughtful, well-written stuff. Why they included my Oscar post, I'll never know.

If you've enjoyed the critter pictures, you might like the feline magnificence on display at the most recent Carnival of Cats (my apologies for not linking to this sooner).

And if my recaps of Top Design leave you wanting more, you can't do better than Pink Navy. The knowledge and creativity of Miss XaXa and Charlus is matched only by their charm.

There's also this thing. Enjoy!

An unseemly display of self-promotion

It's tacky and self-serving, but I figure it can't hurt to ask: nominations are open for the 2007 Weblog Awards (the Bloggies!). Since they select finalists based on the sheer volume of nominations, I'd like to beseech each and every one of you to nominate my humble blog for whatever categories you think might apply (entertainment, new blog, humor, writing, etc.) some time before the end of the day on Wednesday, Jan. 10.

You can't nominate just one blog on your ballot, though (I, um...tried). Each ballot must contain a minimum total of three nominated blogs; fortunately, the categories are pretty varied, so there's not much danger of overlap. If you're stumped for other blogs to nominate, may I recommend those listed to the right under "Sites That Quiet the Voices (For a While)."

I hope you've enjoyed the stuff you've been reading here. If you have, I'd sure appreciate a nomination. (If not, I respect your opinion, though I wonder why you've read this far down in the post.)

[On a similar note, Anne Louise, thank you so much for the donation! But could you shoot me your email address so I can thank you properly? TypePad isn't being forthcoming with the details.]

Coming soon: My entry in the Supporting Actress Blog-a-Thon!

(Damn, is it a slow week for everybody out there, or just me? I keep waiting for Jessica Simpson to light herself on fire or something, just to inspire my lazy ass.)

The lovely StinkyLulu will be hosting a Supporting Actress Blog-a-Thon next Sunday, January 7. I've been viewing as many movies and DVDs as possible recently, seeking out the best supporting performance from the offerings at the video store and in this rather remote outpost of the cinematic world. (I've been trying to download movies that aren't playing here anymore or have yet to open, to no avail. Serves me right, I suppose.)

What about you guys? Who are you currently supporting (get it? ow!) in the race for Globes and Oscars this year?

I [heart] MySpace Music

This is one of my borrowed-greatness posts, where I can claim no credit whatsoever for what I'm passing along to you. I didn't create this, post it, or even find it on my own... but I think you'll be interested in it nonetheless. The buffering took forever on my computer, but you'll want to stick it out to the end, trust me. There's a bit near the end that sounds like Margaret Cho's mom having a psychotic episode while slaughtering a Disney tune. It's awesome.

As my officemate put it, "Well, it says so right there: 'Marla Weiner has four friends.' No wonder."

It's like a temporary satellite branch of the blog

For the next few days, I'll be guest blogging at my buddy Nathaniel's site The Film Experience. Feel free to check out TFE; the other guests are my dear friend Gabriel from Modern Fabulousity and my new friend JA from My New Plaid Pants.

In typical fashion, my first guest post complained about the miniscule, context-free action movie clips my local megaplex played before movies last month. Over the next few days, I'll do a little salute to my current obsession with Mystery Science Theater 3000 and a video clip of great Julianne Moore moments from The Big Lebowski in honor of Moore's birthday on Sunday.

Fortunately, Gabriel and JA are much more movie-oriented than I, so you can get some great film commentary from them as well as my weird stuff. And of course I'll also keep posting here. Don't think you were getting off that easy.

Self-serving non-link update

I just wanted to warn you guys (all eight of you who read this blog) that my posts might be a little sparse for the next few weeks. In keeping with my five-years-behind-the-curve tendencies, I'm finally participating in National Novel Writing Month.

Coming soon: My entry in the Vampire Blog-a-Thon

My friend Nathaniel has organized a Vampire Blog-a-Thon! Next Monday -- Devil's Night for you Detroit residents -- a host of bloggers will post their thoughts on vampire movies, and Nathaniel will round them up at his excellent blog The Film Experience. Mine will be called "Giant Sucking Sound: Ensemble Acting in Bram Stoker's Dracula." 'Cause, seriously, nobody acquits themselves in that thing.

See you next week!

I'll be in New York through Tuesday, maxin' and relaxin' with J. Regrettably, I won't be able to blog from there, so the Flavor of Love recap will probably be quite late. If you're looking for a quality time-waster in the meantime, may I refer you to this addictive game.

Self-serving quick link update

Holecity has my review of Hollywoodland and The Black Dahlia up. Seeing The Black Dahlia prompted me to go back and re-read the novel by James Ellroy. I read it in less than a day. Such ugly, brutal, gripping stuff. I'm not sure I even want to know the true story; Ellroy's tale is so much more involving, so much more real to me.

There's also a pretty good discussion thread on The Black Dahlia and Brian De Palma's direction at Cinemarati. (There, I'm known as gadgetgirl.)

I would like to say this to all filmmakers, though: Ixnay on the torchy trumpet music during the sex scenes. If you've got to use a trumpet -- and really, do you? -- pick something other than the sleazy minor-key ramblings like those used in The Black Dahlia. It starts to sound really porn-ish after a while. Play "Reveille." Play "Flight of the Bumblebee." Anything else.

Self-flagellating update

You'd be perfectly within your rights to wonder where the hell the Flavor of Love recap is. The short answer is that I haven't completed it yet. (The long answer would bore you senseless.) I'll have it up tomorrow, though. I'm just so sorry to disappoint you. To borrow from The Hudsucker Proxy, I let you down. I let Mrs. Eisenhower down. I let the American people down.