She Said 'Yes'!

So, how does one write a blog about something like this? I really don't know, so I'll stick to the facts.

Yesterday was a really great day.

I have been working on putting a ring on Rachel's finger for a while now. It was at that point where everyone wanted to know what I was going to do, but I told no one anything. The secrecy was quite exhausting. Especially when I got the ring some 10 days ago.

It is no small burden on a guys mind to have the ring, but then have to wait for the right moment to pop it out and ask the question. For that matter, it's no small burden to try and decide how to pop the question. There is always that part of you that is afraid of rejection, and is sure that in the moment that beautiful woman will see through all your layers of confusion and realize that she could do much better. All that doubt started to creep in and make me crazy for over a week. Finally, it came time that I just had to do it. Part of me was sure she was going to say no, but I had to ask the question anyway.

Now, I should explain to you that my Rachel is very smart. Sharp as a tack. I didn't want to give her any warning. Of course I tried to think of some super romantic way to do it, but in the end that wouldn't really be me. I do feel romantic in my heart. So why put the ring in a pastry, or something. I have never really understood that part of the thing. I always knew I would just get down on my knee and do it straight-forward.

So what I did is I spent Sunday with her as though it was any ordinary Sunday. Then at the end of it I made her dinner. I got some flowers for her while I was picking up some stuff for the cooking. I thought that might make her suspicious, but I do give her flowers a lot. Then, as she sat down to eat, I whipped out the ring, and she went into a cute, little shock, and said, "Brandon! Don't do this to me!" But it was way too late for that. So I said some things that I don't remember. All I remember is that I was shaking and starting to cry a little. And then she said some things that I don't remember, but that ended with, "Yes, I will marry you." And then we hugged, and cried, and kissed, and it was marvelous.

So then it was impossible to eat. So we put the food all away and went down to the UC to begin spreading the word to the right people, explaining our situation. We told her family. Then we told my family. Meanwhile several phone calls were made. And that brings us right up to the present. I think I'm just barely done with the phone calls. My phone is blowing up with text messages. I haven't talked to this many people, or even texted this many people in a very long time.

Now it's time to get to work. The real fun is just beginning.

The Oscars: A Hateful Screed Against Sellouts, and American Commercialism: A Finger To The Brainwashed Masses: My Snobby Picks: And Tribute To Losers

Is there no justice in this world?

I ask myself that question often, and for many valid reasons. The greedheads and powermongers have run amok all over the place, and we are all stuck here reaping the consequences of their actions. It's almost enough to convince even a pacifist like myself to buy a gun. And yet today I am just pissed off about something far more trivial: The Oscar race.

Every year in March we have to endure this shimmering tribute to mediocrity that we have all come to know and love through years of decreased expectations. Now don't get me wrong, I am not knocking the sedative effects of cheap entertainment, nor the cheap thrills of base exploitation films. As a longtime film junkie, I can every now and then get behind a good movie about car crashes, or cell phones that kill people. But I do know where to draw the line between proper art and blah.

I'm not getting to the point here. Where was I? Oh yes. So when the Oscars come around every March, I am strangely drawn to them, like a moth to the proverbial flame. And just like that doomed moth, I am almost always burned. I find myself screaming at my TV, "Who the #%! **&* *@## voted for that!"

I could pretend to be a film critic here and give you my predictions, but that is far too easy. Pocohontas, er, I mean Avatar is going to win the big prizes. I guess it isn't all that bad. I stayed awake for about a third of it. Worse things will happen anyway. I am pretty sure that for every award won by the film "Precious" God will kill two kittens. That blood will be on the hands of the Academy voters. That's all I'm gonna say about that. I'm not going to focus too much energy on that train wreck. During the Oscars tomorrow I intend to occupy myself by making some pizza.

But for now, to put this post on a more positive note, I am going to explain to you with great arrogance who should win some awards tomorrow.

Best Picture
Inglourious Basterds



I do have mixed feelings about it because it is not the best of Quentin Tarantino's masterpiece films. But it did satisfy what we have come to expect from the man. It is a wild and crazy ride full of the most bizarre surprises, and questions all our deepest notions of what movies are all about. From the misspelt title, right down to the brazen ending that I won't talk about here, it defies the stupifying trend in hollywood. At least for those of us who were paying attention. Most people just think it's silly, and Tarantino is written off by many film critics as a sort of populist entertainer. But there are a few of us who know that his films are no laughing matter. And it is the only film in 2009 that I can honestly put on a list with The Godfather, Casablanca, The Best Years of Our Lives, Lawrence of Arabia, etc. etc.

Best Director
Oren Peli for "Paranormal Activity" - James Cameron will surely win this award for Avatar. But anyone can direct a movie if you give them $500,000,000 to do it. Give me that kind of money and I'll make a movie to blow your damn mind. I'll make a movie that kills people and ends world hunger for half a billion dollars. But Orn Peli, on the other hand, directed the hell out of the scariest movie in years for something like $11,000. That wouldn't even buy my car. If there was any justice in this world James Cameron would dedicate his award to Benjamin Franklin. Congratulations James. You bought this one.

Best Actor
This award should be split between Sam Rockwell, and Sam Rockwell for "Moon".


Sam Rockwell had the task of playing this entire movie with no one but a creepy robot and himself. He had to play two characters. Or maybe they are the same. I'm not really sure. It reminded us that Science Fiction can still be cool, even in the 21st century.

Best Actress
Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side - Ummm. Why not? I love Sandra, and I can't think of a better idea.

Best Supporting Actor
Christoph Waltz for "Inglourious Basterds" - Who know that a character called The Jew Hunter could be so damn funny. We all love to hate him. He's just so adorable, and evil. No contest here. He actually will win this one.

Best Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz for "Nine" - She brought sexiness into a film that direly needed it. I didn't use my brain to make this pick. 'Nuff said.


Best Original Screenplay
"A Serious Man" by the Brothers Coen - After winning everything for No Country For Old Men, the Coens finally got a chance to make this personal, and original film about a man who wants God to tell him what He wants from him as his life falls apart around him. Like all of their films it is nothing like what we expected, and yet it is definitely a Coen Brother's movie. You had to be there, I guess.

*Honorable mention in this category goes to "The Hangover" written by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore.

Best Screenplay Adaptation
"The Soloist", screenply by Susannah Grant - This movie had the misfortune of being released in the first half of the year. Any movie that comes out before late August will be promptly forgotten by Academy voters. But this one was a real treasure. One of the best films of the year.

Best Cinematography
I have no idea how this category is decided. It always goes to the most normal looking movie. Apparently a cinematographer's goal is to make their movie look like every other movie. Creativity is not rewarded. I'm also giving this one to Inglourious Basterds because it aint as easy as you might think to make a movie that looks like it was filmed in 1972 by Sergio Leone. The cinematographer in question here is Robert Richardson.

Best Art Direction
"The Road" - Because it aint easy to drain all the life out of the world and make everything look dead.


Best Animated Feature
It will go to UP. I just want to give an honorable mention to The Fantastic Mr. Fox, which is equally deserving.

I don't care about the rest of the categories. That's all I really got.

The Joseph Smith Sphynx

Rachel and Trent standing with the Joseph Smith Sphynx at Gilgal Garden in Salt Lake. This weird, little town never ceases to bewilder me.

The Ultimate Chick Flick

I pretty much had an awesome Valentine's Day, by the way. I meant to blog about that but somehow I never got around to it. Nevertheless, since then I have had an ongoing debate with the resident film critics about the best chick flicks. This debate has fallen into violence on several occasions, with much biting and scratching all around. Finally we all decided we would agree to disagree, and therefore present to you our individual picks.

Me

When Harry Met Sally


I do apologize for that clip. I just found it and I couldn't help myself. In all seriousness though, I think that is the only chick flick I have ever seen that takes both the male and female characters seriously, but never too seriously, and doesn't stereotype them, or talk down to the audience, or make me feel like a horrible person for being a man. Even when Billy Crystal ultimately acts like a jerk (as all men in these movies must) and screws everything up, it is at least for understandable man reasons, and not just because the formula demands it.

Leonard

It Happened One Night

We have all seen those run-of-the-mill battle of the sexes romantic comedies. The spunky, but spoiled rich girl with daddy issues runs away. Somehow her path merges with the cynical, worldly fellow. They both need each other for some esoteric purpose, but they drive each other crazy. They pretend to hate each other, but inevitably they both learn to see each other for who they truly are, and live happily ever after. I could make a list, but why bother.

But it was Frank Capra who created the archetypal one in It Happened One Night. Down on his luck journalist, Clark Gable, finds a juicy story in run-away heiress, Claudette Colbert. Together they trek across the country, he getting the story, and she evading capture. Slowly they teach each other a few new tricks, until the end climax where the trumpet blows and the metaphorical walls of Jericho come tumbling down betwixt them.



Loki

You sappy boys make me laugh. Any real man would admit that there is only one great chick flick. And it is Kill Bill. They killed her baby. They soiled her wedding dress. But they F****d with the wrong B***h! It's the one movie that shows the real life consequences that could happen to you if you ever make the mistake of wrecking a girl's wedding day.

Random Photo Stuff

I'm starting to get a little bit back into the mindset of doing some photography. I always fall away from it during the busy holidays. But here is a few random things I have done lately, just goofing around.


Rachel found a site that will turn your photos into sixties looking photos. I decided to play around in photoshop and do one myself.


Also, I finally got some decent pictures of my cats. It's pretty hard to get them to sit still for it, and the flash pisses them off something fierce, but I got them.
Leonard

Loki






One day I was laying around at night watching Lost and the power went out on me. I looked outside and there was weird light all around, reflected off the clouds, so I went out to try some night photography. The street lights usually make night photography look weird and gross. So this was a rare opportunity, although it didn't last very long.

My building with lights


My building without lights






And finally, a pretty, pink picture of Reggie trying real hard to kill a small bug.