...In which our heroine would like to thank the Academy.

As many times as the Oscars suck, and how often they get things wrong, I still love watching them. I love years, like this one, where there is a film I can really root for. It's funny being in film school - it seems like most people would have elitist taste, but when talking about who has seen what, I find that more people have seen the Friday the 13th remake than The Wrestler.

The past three years, I've hosted Oscar parties at my house with the girls. I have some lovely memories of them, and it makes me sad that I have to change the company this year. And that I won't have my mom's salsa, or get to watch Gallacher go into a diabetic coma from eating a whole bowl of Dove chocolate.

I haven't see all of the films nominated, but most of them, so here is my incomplete list of Oscar predictions:

(Full List of Nominees)

BEST PICTURE- 

Will Win: Slumdog Millonaire

Should Win: Slumdog Millionaire

Definitely my favorite film of the year, Slumdog has won every guild award, a feat no other film has ever accomplished. It would be a mega-upset for something like Milk to upstage it, but I think it's a pretty safe bet.

BEST ACTOR-

Will Win: Sean Penn

Should Win: Mickey Rourke

This category could go either way I think. Sean Penn is very good in Milk, and the film is more topical than The Wrestler, but Mickey Rourke is just so much more haunting and heartbreaking. Plus, he's Marv.

BEST ACTRESS-

Will Win: Kate Winslet

Should Win: Kate Winslet

She was nominated for the wrong film, however. I thought The Reader was very a mediocre, by the book let's-continue-to-feel-bad-about-the-Holocaust film, whereas Revolutionary Road sucked me in, taking the malaise of the 1950s and putting a spin on it. Meryl Streep could upset though, and maybe even Anne Hathaway.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR-

Will Win: Heath Ledger

Should Win: Heath Ledger

The Dark Knight should have been nominated for Best Picture over The Reader, but it'll get its dues with this award, which is a lock. I have nothing to say about Ledger that hasn't been already said.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS-

Will Win: Penelope Cruz

Should Win: Marisa Tomei

I feel a little guilty predicting Cruz for this because I haven't seen or plan on seeing Vicky Christina Barcelona. Taraji P. Henson is probably the best part of Benjamin Button, but Tomei just make the washed up stripper in The Wrestler feel so real, so damaged.

BEST DIRECTOR-

Will Win: Danny Boyle

Should Win: Danny Boyle

Boyle has put together a very solid collection of films since debuting with Shallow Grave, and he deserves to be recognized. As much as I like David Fincher, Benjamin Button was just very blah. Milk is a really good film, I just don't know that Gus Van Sant is the reason.

ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY-

Will Win: Milk

Should Win: Wall-E or In Bruges

Again, I think the thing about Milk that elevates it really is the ensemble performance. As far as originality, I guess this has to go to Wall-E, but In Bruges put a really fantastic spin on the overdone hit-man story.

ADAPTED SCREENPLAY-

Will Win: Slumdog

Should Win: Slumdog

Can you tell I like Slumdog a little bit? 

CINEMATOGRAPHY-

Will Win: Slumdog or The Dark Knight

Should Win: The Dark Knight

While I think Slumdog is better photographed, the technicality of the lighting set-ups and cameras that had to be used to get the grand scale shots in The Dark Knight shows a better command of the medium. Also, I think Revolutionary Road should have been up. 

EDITING-

Will Win: Slumdog

Should Win: Slumdog

We had just talked about editing in Aesthetics of Cinema when I saw Slumdog, and honestly, it was the most striking visual from the film. The three concurrent story lines are weaved together seamlessly, which is the very purpose of continuity editing.

ANIMATED FEATURE-

Will Win: Wall-E

Should Win: Wall-E

I've reconsidered Wall-E after a second viewing, which made me like it a lot more. The humor is way more clever than I noticed the first time. And honestly, Bolt? Yeah...

I won't get into all of the smaller categories, but I have my favorites. 

And Gallacher and Ashley Ann, know that I'll miss sitting on my couch making fun of who wore what with you two.

...In which our heroine is in the mood for love.

This is the first Valentine's Day I've had someone to be mine. I do think it's kind of a cheesy made-up holiday, but nonetheless.

Last night the boy and I went on a perfect Katydid date: dinner at PF Chang's, Coraline in glorious, gorgeous 3-D, and talking in bed, listening to Tom Waits, until 3 AM. It was quite lovely.

So as Hallmark of a holiday as it is, Happy Valentine's Day, I hope you get at least one person to make you smile today. And if not, there's always this:

And if not that, be jealous that you aren't as attractive as us:

...In which our heroine is inglorious.

Dear Quentin,
 

I'm not sure about this one. It could be totally kick-ass, but it seems like you're back to the Kill Bill mentality of "here is everything I over-stylize, all at once." I am encouraged by the presence of Brad, since he gave a tour-de-force in another film you wrote, as Floyd in my personal favorite, True Romance. The concept is cool, and I'm anxious to see how you do war. Also, props for casting Neil from Freaks & Geeks, but why does Eli Roth having a big role? 

I really want this to redeem you Quentin. Sorry, but Death Proof  sucked. I hope you are able to mix your snappy dialogue, wonderfully out of place pop music, and acts of horrendous violence the way you used to - just thinking about the ear scene in Resevoir Dogs or Mia Wallace snorting heroin to "Girl, You'll Be  a Woman Soon" gives me the warm and fuzzies.

Love,

Kate

...In which our heroine has 25.

Everyone on the Facebook has decided to write a note with 25 random facts about them. Well, I don't feel like talking about all that stuff when anyone in my networks can read it but I still like the concept, so I shifted it here. Learn about Katydid:

1- After four years in marching band, I find it hard to walk without making the arch of my right foot hit lines, natural or otherwise. Thanks, Todd.

2- I count almost everything I do. Most of the time when something involves repetition, I have to do it in multiples of 5 - like opening my locker or brushing my hair.

3- I love cute animal pictures and visit Cute Overload pretty much everyday. My favorite animals are anteaters, elephants, and monkeys.

4- After living in Chicago for nearly six months, I still haven't seen a large portion of the city. Nothing on the west or south side especially.

5- I am named after the album Katy Lied by Steely Dan. Katherine is a family name too, but my dad insists it was after Steely Dan. If I were a boy, I would have been Graham, after Nash and Parsons I assume.

6- I am an atheist until proven otherwise. I am however open to the possibility that a higher being exists and we're just in one big ant farm. I just need proof.

7- I hate musicals. Despite this, I know every word to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. 

8- As previously mentioned, I dream vividly. Recurring menaces include: the Mad Hatter, alligators, falling, axe murder, and zombies.

9- My brain is rotted on a daily basis my celebrity gossip websites which include: Perez Hilton, Dlisted (my favorite), What Would Tyler Durden Do, Egotastic, and Gorilla Mask.

10- The only thing that I have ever been 100% positive of in my life is that I want children.  Silly maternal instincts.

11- My boyfriend and I each have music-themed tattoos. Mine comes from the Pixies album Doolittle and resides on my left ankle. His comes from the Sufjan Stevens song "Casimir Pulaski Day" and takes up most of the top of his left arm.

12- I love tattoos, if they are meaningful and well-done. Especially on boys. Also appreciated on the male species: dark hair/eyes, old-school glasses, and facial hair.

13- I've loved Batman ever since the cartoon series in the 90s. I've watched the original four Batman movies, even Batman and Robin, more times than anyone needs to. I own a Poison Ivy Barbie that I made my dad buy for me when I was fourteen. She is the bee's knees.

14- Sometimes I find it hard to reconcile being a girl with all of my geeky and decidedly male interests. See: zombies movies vs. chick flicks, black music t-shirts vs. blouses, Stephen King vs. Stephanie Meyer

15- My favorite filmmaker is Paul Thomas Anderson, although I quite enjoy the work of Danny Boyle, David Fincher, the Coen Brothers, Alfonso Cuaron, Robert Altman, Kevin Smith, Sofia Coppola, Atom Egoyan, Stanley Kubrick, Sam Mendes, and Quentin Tarantino.

16- All things about the apocalypse interest me. This is probably why my favorite book is The Stand. I'm pulling for zombies or Captain Tripps when it all falls apart; none of that alien or global warming bullshit.

17- The smell of cigarettes is comforting to me. I don't smoke, but most of my family does, and the acrid tobacco smell reminds me of home. This is also why I do not mind the boy smoking.

18- The first film I ever loved was Hook. I watched it over break, and I still love it. 

19- One of my favorite feelings in the world is remembering something you thought you forgot and then realizing it was there all along, just hidden. 

20- I think everyone needs to stop getting their knickers in a twist about two things in particular: gay marriage and drug laws. No one should be denied their own happiness or love in their life - so why not let them make it official? Or at least offer the same benefits as married couples in civil unions. As for drug laws, I think that marijuana should be decriminalized. The War on Drugs is never going to work, give it up government, and focus on eliminating hard drugs instead of jailing some hungry hippies.

21- I wish I was a generation older and could have been a teenager in the late 1960s/early 1970s.

22- As miserable as they may seem, I love outdoor music festivals. This year will be my fourth Lollapalooza, and I will go to Coachella, Bonnaroo, SXSW, and Austin City Limits at some point in my life.

23- I think regrets are pointless. If something's already happened and affected you, why worry about it. Move on and chalk it up to karma.

24- The hardest I've ever cried at any form of entertainment was beginning about 100 pages from the end of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I sobbed my way through the end, and said goodbye to childhood as I placed the book on my shelf.

25- As much I try to deny it, writing is my greatest love and biggest passion. Nothing makes me happier than the right word, phrase, or sentence. I love putting pen to paper and creating whole new realities. Even writing this blog is a great catharsis for me. I don't know where the writer in me comes from, it has simply always been there.

So there you go, some more stuff about me that might be moderately interesting.

...In which our heroine has a taste of spring.

It is an absolutely gorgeous day in Chicago. After weeks of total frigidity, the 55 degree weather made me not even wear a jacket out. I know that within the week I'll probably be back to my sweet fur-hooded parka, but for today I can revel in the taste of spring we've gotten.

I know I talk a lot about the whole self-realization becoming a grown-up thing on here a lot, but I find myself with daily examples of it. I was getting dressed today and was lucky enough to be able to wear a shirt with short sleeves. But after I put it on I realized that it was not only the shirt I wore on my last day of high school, but the one I wore my second day here. The shirt is a little big now, and that was just one of the way I've changed. I think I'm the only college student to go away to school and lose weight, not gain it. That's what happens when I have to walk everywhere and buy and cook my own food. And I don't hate it.

Time passes so fast. I can't believe it's February already and into the second semester of my freshman year of college. As for classes this semester, things are going really well so far. I'm pretty sure Ben and I could teach our Popular and Contemporary Music class, but there are much worse ways to spend a class then listening to music. My professor for Oral Expression is kind of insane, but teaches screenwriting at Second City, so she's pretty funny. Screenwriting I isn't bad at all so far, and we get to adapt a short story for one of our screenplays--I'm either doing something from Palahniuk or King. This week in Production I, we learned how to work projectors, pitched our first film ideas, and learned all sorts of fun stuff...But next week we get to work with the editing equipment and do our first camera exercise. :)

All the other miscellanea is well in the life of Katydid. Pokemon fever has died down somewhat though. Things with the boy are continually blissful--I don't think I've ever felt closer to anyone. But alas, there is laundry to be done since I literally have no clean clothes and it is far too nice of an evening to sit inside.

...In which our heroine LOLs.

I've never been high on laughing gas, but I totally want to now:

I saw this video yesterday and have watched it at least five times since then. "IS THIS GONNA BE FOREVER?" Oh, stoned children.

...In which our heroine is a pastiche.

Some random thoughts from the past week:

-Super Bowl commercials were the lamest I've ever seen.

-The special guest stars on The Office were a total waste. 

-Springsteen still puts on a pretty okay live performance.

-Production I is going to kick my ass. Screenwriting I, however, is not.

-I now know why my corner is the windiest in the city. 

-Star Wars will probably be discussed in every film course I ever take.

-Paul Thomas Anderson's use of color is phenomenal in Boogie Nights. Also, Cinema Slap-Down Friday night is Punch-Drunk Love :)

-Sleeping two people in dorm beds continues to be impossibly uncomfortable.

-I make the same exact grocery store list every two weeks.

-Pokemon fever has overtaken us all:

-Lane played for fifteen hours yesterday.

-You should not laugh at your boyfriend when he cannot get through Rock Tunnel...he gets a little angry.

-The couple that argues over Pokemon together stays together.

-I did not catch them all in Yellow, but have turned back into my 12 year old self from the experience. 

-On a Sunday evening at 3 AM, finding Pokemon 3: The Movie on WGN while you are in fact watching two close friends play Pokemon is quite exciting.

-Person Pitch by Panda Bear is an exceedingly perfect album.

-The less homework I have, the longer I put off doing it.

Assorted strands of thought from Katydid's head...that's all there ever really is.