Wednesday, February 26, 2014

WHAT? WEDNESDAY: THE OLYMPICS AND THE ACADEMY AWARDS

Gentle Readers . . . and Maxwell,

I have two questions for you today. You can answer one or none. Please have fun. (At first, I wrote You can answer one or none or both, but then I changed it because I couldn't think of anything to replace both or two that rhymes with one and none. I suppose it's some completely obvious word that The Queen of Grammar can't remember at the moment.)

Well, all righty then. Let's start with the Olympics. Did you watch the Olympics

A. a whole big bunch
B. a bunch
C. not so much
D. not at all

If you watched, what were your favorite events?

My answer is C. I watched A. when the Olympics were in Vancouver and London. But then Sochi came up, and I'd never heard of it. Then I started to see stuff online about Russia not being ready for the Olympics and the hotel rooms were gross and the food was gross and Vladdy Putin is really gross. I even saw some photos of these weird communal bathrooms with a bunch of toilets in the same room, in close proximity to one another, and no stalls. People were literally going to be able to take a good dump and have a great chat at the same time. Talk about multitasking.

I didn't want to see all this gross stuff in Sochi, so I DVRed the ladies' figure skating competition and that was it. I enjoyed watching it, so I guess it was my favorite event.

Watching one event means I missed out on people who were pissed over (heheheheheh) weird toilet facilities. I missed Bob Kostas's eye infection and competitors who complained because they didn't get the medals they thought they deserved.

I imagine I also missed some very happy, meaningful moments. Maybe I should have watched more. But on Sunday night NBC had a special about all that weirdness years ago between Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding. Hasn't it been, like, 20 years or something since that happened? Can we please get past that kerfuffle? Tonya got banned from the figure skating association for the rest of her life. She admitted she knew about her ex-husband's involvement in the attack after it happened, and she apologized. No proof was ever found, as far as I know, that Tonya was involved in the attack. Let's drop it now. (I DVRed it. When I get around to watching it, if I see anything interesting I'll let you know.)

Next on our agenda: The Academy Awards will be presented this Sunday evening. Will you watch

A. the whole show
B. some of the show
C. none of the show
D. what show?

If you're interested in the movies, then for what movies are you rooting? Do you have any Oscar predictions?

My answer is A. I predicted on this very blog that Leonardo DiCaprio would win the Best Actor Award for The Great Gatsby. Oops! He can still win Best Actor, but it has to be for The Wolf of Wall Street, a movie I have not seen, but Favorite Young Man says it's great.

I'm curious about something else, too. The host always says something about a kajillion zillion people all over the world watching The Academy Awards. Is this statement true? You, and you, and you, yes, all of you who do not live in the United States, do you even give a flying fig about The Academy Awards?

As always, I look forward to reading your answers.

For those of you who need to catch up on certain events in my garage, thanks to Favorite Young Man, Operation El Gato is complete and no one has been arrested -- yet. If the police show up asking question, I will toss FYM under the bus.

No, I won't, because no one is on to us. Favorite Young Man is a smooth criminal, and he can dance.


Infinities of love,

Janie Junebug



34 comments:

  1. I watched some of the Olympics, with the figure skating competitions getting most of my attention. And, yes, it's past time to move on from that Kerrigan/Harding messy situation. It's obvious the gals want to, but television being television, it remains, I suppose. We'll watch most of the Academy Awards . . . kinda hope Leo wins.

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    1. I'd like a win for Leo, too. He has developed into an excellent actor. Besides, I can't remember who else is nominated. Nancy Kerrigan has two Olympic medals; Tonya Harding has zero. Nancy Kerrigan made millions from skating; Tonya Harding isn't wealthy unless she married a rich man. Let's drop it and leave Tonya alone.

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  2. Not at all. I watched none of it!

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  3. 1. C - Not so Much
    2. C - None of the show

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  4. Hello, JJ! You're going to think I'm p-ssy whipped. Maybe I am. Mrs. Shady hates sports and hates awards shows even more. When I was a bachelor I watched lots of sports and awards shows. (Do bikini/wet t-shirt contests count as awards shows?) Now, to keep the peace, I do not watch any of the above. Therefore, my answers are as follows.

    The Olympics: D.
    Academy Awards: C (Yay, at least it's a different answer!)

    By the way, I had already decided to boycott the Olympics before they began. I saw a news report about hundreds of stray dogs being poisoned so they wouldn't be a nuisance to people attending the games.

    Correction: Mrs. Shady and I used to watch the Olympic figure skating competition together, but she abruptly pulled the plug when I started calling Rudy Galindo's name in my sleep!

    As for that top secret, clandestine Operation El Gato... (wait for it)
    .....something doesn't smell right!

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    1. Poisoning Dogs? Aaaaaaaaaaack! I hate Putin even more now.

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  5. I'm another kind of audience. I watched no olympics and will watch no academy. Perhaps I'm un-American.

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  6. I don't think that makes you un-American. Maybe it makes you intelligent.

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  7. D to both!
    I was a greater at the airport in Atlanta during the Olympics here and I saw first hand the bigotry, and hatred from the players. Brotherly love and love of the sport my ass. They brought their life long teachings and leaning with them. And I never watch the award shows where the award each other because no one else will.

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    1. All right, Coffey. You kick ass, baby.

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    2. Sorry, JJ. I just noticed one of my many booboos. It should have been greeter, not greater.

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  8. 1. D
    2. C
    I was probably busy watching some of the quality programming I had DVR'd like Real Housewives of Atlanta or Beverly Hill or both! Sunday I will be doing the same instead of watching the awards show. I did see Wolf of Wall Street and thought it was just ok. Leo did a fantastic job however.

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    1. I'm glad you limit yourself to intellectual shows.

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  9. I was on vacation and missed all of the Olympics. But I never miss the Oscars and will watch all of it. Will be rooting for Philomena but I know it won't win.

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    1. 12 Years A Slave seems to be the favorite, but maybe Judi Dench will win best actress.

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  10. I watched very little of the Olympics. I never watch the Academy Awards anymore because I'm never current on movies anymore.

    Oh wait...Did I just answer both? I'm so confused.

    P.S. I commented on your (sort-of) birthday post and didn't wish you a happy birthday. Happy Late Birthday Miss Bug!
    -andi

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    1. It's okay to answer both. I watch the awards even though I haven't seen the movies. Thank you for the birthday wishes.

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  11. I watched very little of the Olympics. I usually am addicted. My favorite part was Sage the snowboarder. He one the first gold. You should YouTube him. He is a total riot.

    I usually watch all of the Oscars. 1998 was the last year I saw all of the best films. This year the only film I saw was Star Trek. Yes, that is nominated. I would love to see Leo or Jonah or Bradley win. :-)

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    1. I'll try to remember to find Sage. I don't think I've ever seen all the best movies. I haven't seen any of them this time, but I enjoy the excitement of the show; and I love a good host. Billy Crystal is the best. It's Ellen DeGeneres this year. I hope she does well. I'm rooting for Leonardo because I think he's come so far as an actor, but Bradley is so darn cute and a very good actor. I'm not rooting for Jonah, although I like him, because I want Jared Leto to win best supporting actor. I've thought he was HOT ever since he was on My So-Called Life.

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  12. Here's where I admit how out of touch I am. I wanted to watch the WHOLE Olympics, but I couldn't find a way to do so without cable. Brr? Since when was a subscription necessary to watch a world wide sports event? Didn't that used to fall under public television? Anyhow, then I really don't care about Hollywood and their pretentious awards. Is that sad? I don't know. When the only people voting are people who man the movies and whose values are so far removed from my own...well it's been a long time since I watched. Sorry, I must be in a mood today. It's probably that darn book I just finished that made me SO angry.

    Communal toilets... *shudders*

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    1. Do you not get an NBC station without cable? Most of the events were on there, and I think there's a way to watch online. Anyway, I don't think you missed much. I'll watch out for that darn book. I don't want to make you angry.

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  13. Didn't watch any of the Olympics. But whenever I did watch any of the winter Olympics years ago I watched the figure skating.
    I record the Academy Awards so that I can FF through anything I don't want to watch (which is a lot so it makes them so much shorter), so I can see the film clips, and because I like Ellen. I have only been able to see Captain Phillips so I have no clue who to vote for. I have to wait for the movies to come out on Netflix so I usually haven't seen what's nominated, anyways.

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    1. I DVR the awards, too. I skip the boring categories, most of the acceptance speeches, and the best song nominees. I saw Ellen host an awards show once. I think it was the Grammies, which I don't watch anymore. Hugh Jackman also is an excellent Oscar host.

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  14. Egads, a typo. He WON the first gold.

    I don't know much about Jared, but he seems very intense.
    Obviously Star Trek was not nominated for best film.

    I used to be comfortable seeing movies by myself in Chicagoland, but I feel like a big loser doing it in a small town where you always run into people you know. I prefer to see movies by myself in the same spot. Back row, by an aisle. I need too start doing that again. Really, why is it necessary to sit right next to someone when your not supposed to talk anyway.

    Ellen always does a good job. These awards people are finally figuring out who can host these days.

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    1. Jared is sooooo hot. He doesn't take many roles because he's in a successful band. I do a lot of stuff alone, but I won't go to the movies by myself. It's a long drive and then an expensive ticket. I'm better off in my woman cave with DVDs. When James Franco and Anne Hathaway hosted the Oscars it was pretty sad. I've heard them called the worst hosts ever, but I thought that honor went to David Letterman.

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  15. Answers: No and No. I dropped off the cable landscape a couple of years ago when money was tight and haven't looked back. I kind of missed seeing curling (don't know why, it's beautifully hypnotizing and I love it.), but will in no way miss award shows. The best bits are put online in quick, digestible chunks, and quite frankly, why should I care about an ass-kiss festival that has nothing to do with objective reality? Shakespeare in Love won best picture. Have you watched that lately? No, of course you haven't because it's Shakespeare in Love and not worth revisiting. It's also why I don't watch ice skating in the Olympics because I hate fake competitions that rely on the subjectivity of the judges to determine the winner.

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    1. I haven't seen Shakespeare In Love recently, but I'd watch it again. I loved it. I don't care much about the scores the judges give to figure skaters. I like watching the graceful skaters, and sometimes the people who win actually deserve it.

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  16. Olympic fever here, but just the actual events.

    Oscar? Who is he? The last movie I saw at the theater was the Lego Movie and the one before that? The Muppet Movie. My husband will watch the whole thing with a look of longing on his face...for a wife who wants to catch a movie at least once a week (or can stay awake to watch one at home)

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    1. Willy Dunne Wooters isn't as interested in movies as I am so I usually watch DVDs when he's at work.

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  17. D for the Olympics. I may watch the Oscars because I love Ellen.

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    1. I'm not a huge Ellen fan, but when I saw her host the Grammies one time she was excellent.

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