Odds & Ends

It's a beautiful day, and I took my "lunch hour" at 2:30 and sat outside in the sun. There is an odd smell outside, and it took me awhile to place it, but then I realized it smells like the molasses covered grain my mother feeds her sheep. I don't know if this is the same smell reported in October.

**

I found a suit in my closet the other day, while searching for another one I knew I'd hidden when it got too tight to wear. I was surprised, though, to stumble across this other one, as I have no memory of having bought it or worn it. I'm thinking maybe I needed it for a random job interview, wore it once, and it was too tight before I had occasion to wear it again. Now it fits perfectly. I wore it Wednesday and felt empowered all day. At lunchtime, I even went into a few stores and tried on clothes, just for the sensation of fitting into smaller sizes. Unfortunately, I'm accustomed to buying anything that fits (because so little used to) that I'm going to go broke.

**

My work laptop and home laptop have different keyboard configurations. I have a hard time deleting anything because one's delete button is the other's page up. It drives me slightly crazy.

**

I once had a terrible, terrible boss. He was the worst person I've ever worked for, and that's including the CEO who used to put the speaker phone on mute during conference calls so he could make fun of his regional executives, and the guy who said publicly, during the office Holiday Party recognition ceremony, "If you're name is Bob, my name is Habib!" to the son of East Asian immigrants who'd chosen to Americanize his name.

Terrible, terrible boss was worse than those. I seriously think he was mentally ill. He couldn't sit through a conversation - you'd see his eyes glaze over once you started a second sentence and he'd just interrupt and cut you off. I could understand this if I were a blowhard and it just happened to me, but that wasn't the case. He'd get up and walk out of almost every meeting because he couldn't keep his attention on anything. All meetings - even sales pitches at client locations. He forgot to give me my bonus check for three days until I swallowed my pride and went in and asked him if I'd even gotten one. He knew absolutely nothing about what I did and had no interest in understanding or even hearing about it. I was thrilled when I heard he'd gotten laid off shortly after I did.

Today I saw him in the elevator, here, where I work now. Luckily I'd been warned by another former colleague that terrible, terrible boss was now in this complex. (Not in my company, thank god.) If I hadn't known, it would have really freaked me out. He got into the elevator and was totally oblivious to me, standing in the back. (That's how I knew it was him - totally oblivious is his signature look.) I don't know what I'd say to him if he recognized me. There might be spitting involved.

**

It's almost 4 pm on a beautiful, beautiful Friday afternoon. Many people have left already and I'm itching to go as well. I plan on walking home over the bridge, and I'm sure it will be crowded.

**

I moved 8 of the larger baby fish into the main part of the tank and they are thriving! Nobody is eating/bothering them. This weekend I might let the others loose, too; I'd kept them in the little plastic nurseries so they wouldn't have to compete for food. But I think it's time for survival of the fittest.

**

I was curious how Ricky Gervais was doing with his podcast-for-pay, but have not been able to find it on iTunes. Mystery solved - it's not in the podcast section, because a podcast is, by definition, free. iTunes has categorized it as an "audiobook" and files it with the other paid audio. It has a 2 1/2 star rating, down from a 5 from when it was free. The resounding response is - "We shouldn't have to pay for this." Guess I was right.

Inside Man

At six-thirty this morning, on the way to the gym, I passed two women on the street. One said to the other, "I can't believe you didn't like 'Inside Man!' I loved that mother-fucking movie. That Denzel Washington, mmmm, mmmm, mmmm." I didn't hear her friend's response, but I immediately thought, "absolutely."

I saw a lot of trailers for this film - scratch that, I saw one trailer a lot of times for this film - without realizing it was a Spike Lee movie. Much in the way that "Match Point" wasn't a typical Woody Allen film, I wouldn't identify this one in a blind screening as Spike Lee. I mean, I've enjoyed a lot of Lee's films (I even met him at a premiere for one of them - I'll tell that story another time) but I never thought of him as the crime-caper type. And yet? He really pulled it off. The film has hints of "Ocean's 11" and "The Usual Suspects" and a great deal of pure New York sensibility. I don't know how some of it will play in the rest of the country (world), but our theater was cracking up a lot. (And cheering - as when a young boy hostage is asked, "Were you scared?" and he says, "No, I'm from Brooklyn!") Some of the film is light-hearted and fun, and amazingly enough that isn't a distraction. The caper itself is smart and yet there are enough clues along the way that when all is revealed, it's within reason. I will admit that I was looking for clues constantly; there is a scene where a hostage is taken into an office and beaten, and we half see it through a window. I was convinced that it was faked, that the hostage was in on the conspiracy with the robbers, but now I think it was just bad blocking.

Denzel Washington is still fine, (and I mean that in the mmmmm mmmmm mmmmm sense), even in a role where he's, well, just an ordinary guy with ordinary problems. I love Clive Owens, too, and he didn't disappoint, although I would have liked Jodie Foster better if I understood more about her character. I always have mixed feelings about Jodie Foster because I admire her so much - she's almost exactly my age, has had a long and successful career on her own terms, and keeps her private life private. So when I don't love her in a movie role, I want to make excuses for her. In this case, I don't think she does a terrible job, I just think the part is underwritten. Call that an excuse if you will, but let me also add that she still has great legs.

Watching this film also brought home how fake "24" is. There is no way that CTU can have the technology to do one tenth of what they manage to do, at least in the timeframe in which the show wants you to believe they do it. Within minutes of an event, CTU has logged onto the site's security system, taken control of everything, can track people through infrared/heat technology, and relay all of that information to Jack Bauer via an earpiece. (I'm not giving away any spoilers here, this is seemingly standard procedure as it happens regularly.) In real life, or at least in Spike Lee's NYC, the NYPD has a mobile technology communications center and they manage to get access to the bank's security cameras and floorplan, but it takes some time and at no time do their screens light up with brightly colored images showing where the "hostiles" are located. Of course having access to that kind of information would ruin the whole movie, now wouldn't it?

A Tangent

It seems like forever since I've posted anything here, and yet only three days? I am much busier with my new job, but it's a strange kind of busy because it's not unpleasant. Things happen quickly and keep me hopping, but I don't hate what I do and I'm not in an environment which is so negative that it sucks the life out of every project I'm involved in. (Like my last job.)

Not that I wouldn't love to have more time off or that I don't look at the clock and wish it were 5:30, but still.

To write

My second online writing course is coming to an anticlimactic end. Remember how I hated the first instructor for his lack of motivation/direction, and how I complained until they switched me over? And the new class seemed so much better, with engaged and active students and a dynamic instructor? Well, she all but disappeared, came back with the announcement that she'd had unplanned surgery (that was the extent of the explanation), promised she was still with us, but proceeded to be basically awol the rest of the semester. Luckily there is a good group of students that have bonded despite that (because of that?) and her lectures are still pretty good (likely recycled, of course) and so it's been okay, but as the end nears and the evaluation forms come in... well, I am positive I'm not the only one who will not mark this as one of their favorite courses.

The other terribly self-centered thing is that for once I don't feel that I'm at the very top of the class. How vile does admitting that make me? But the truth is that generally I feel that I'm one of the more talented ones, and the reactions from the rest of the class and the instructors usually bears this out. I'm not saying I'm perfect - and in my last class there was one guy that was so phenomenal it took my breath away (why is he not published yet!) - but these classes attract a range of experience and skill, and I've been near the top. Well, this time, there are several who write really well, have gotten excellent kudos from classmates and instructor alike, and they're not me. Hey, this is my own blog, I can be honest, right? It makes me slightly jealous and discouraged. A ping to my confidence, if you will.

The reality is that I've found myself in a group of stronger writers, and that should be wonderful. I've learned a lot in this class, so it's up to me to apply it and to become a stronger writer myself. I know I can do it, I just have to dedicate the time (which I don't) and the discipline (which I really don't.) I'm lazy, and maybe this is my comeuppance.

Life is a Seinfeld episode.

The days of referencing "Seinfeld" every time something funny happens are less and less common, but every now and then I find myself living one unexpectedly. Today it was the episode where Jerry has taped the Met game because he was out of town at a gig, and has managed to go the whole next day without seeing/hearing about the score so he can relax in front of the tv that night and watch. He answers his phone with, "Hello, don't tell me what happened in the Met game because I haven't seen it yet!" Etc., etc. And then, just as he turns it on, Kramer walks in, sees the tv, and says, "Wasn't that a great game last night? I couldn't believe that blah blah blah..."

So: Last night, tired, I set the VCR for "The Amazing Race," knowing that I'm bound to fall asleep before it comes on at 10. (Yup. I dozed off sometime during the 8-9 pm hour.) Last week I did the same, and was really proud of myself that I managed to make it all the way until Friday night without hearing who'd been eliminated. I sat down and watched the episode, and lo and behold! Nobody was, it was one of the show's annoying "To be continued..." legs. Now, this week, let's see if I can also avoid the spoilers, as I probably won't get a chance to watch the episode until Friday again. And, I'm at the gym, volume turned up on the tv on the elliptical because they are playing 60's music I like (I can move faster to the Rolling Stones and the Doors than hip-hop - I'm an old white girl) and I'm so into it I am not paying attention and my eyes drift over to the big tv on the wall and - it's CBS's morning show, and there is the eliminated team. Damn. I even stared for a second and thought, "Oh, look, it's So-and-so and So-and-so, why are they on tv?" before I realized it meant THEY LOST LAST NIGHT. Sob. Not only am I pissed that I know the ending of the show, but they were one of my favorite teams.

At least I've already watched this week's "24" so I know who died.

Huh.

Maybe I'm paranoid.

Or maybe it's because it's happened to me before, twice in my career. On both occasions I was reporting into someone who did the same basic work as me, only at a higher level (as opposed to the times when I reported to the CEO or President) and on both occasions, the person left and I wound up doing their job for awhile, then eventually getting the promotion. Both times, my boss completely left the industry to do something different: one moved to Europe where his wife was attending art school, and another moved to the Caribbean to open a restaurant with her chef husband.

Now it's been quite a few years since those happened, but here I am wondering if things really do happen in threes. Here's the situation: On Friday my boss left early, not telling me, but telling another person on our team. This is very out of character for him. Yesterday, he told me he had a lunch meeting in midtown, a meeting that it made some sense that I also attend, but he was going alone. Whatever. He left the office just before noon. He called at 3 from his cell phone to check in, and then never came back. I ran into him on the street at 5:30 as I was leaving. (He has to come back this way to go home.) He was wearing a suit, which in itself is unusual, but he also made it a point to explain why (the lunch meeting was formal.) I'm still not sure how a lunch meeting with two very busy people wound up taking 5 hours. (Although maybe my paranoia is simply misplaced, and he's having an affair!) Final nail in my conspiracy theory coffin: he has family in Hawaii, spent two weeks there recently, and told me he's considered quitting the corporate life to move there permanently.

Watch this space for updates.

PS More Blogger spellcheck fun! For "midtown," it suggests "Madonna" and "mutiny."

32! Hip-hop Hurray!

As of this morning, I've lost 32 lbs. That is in 15 weeks of controlled eating and increased exercise. Not bad, eh? I'm pretty psyched. I'm in a good place now, where I don't have to overthink my daily routine: I know what to eat, I like what I eat, I don't feel inordinately hungry, and I even find myself looking forward to the gym. And missing it when I can't go (as when I had to travel this week.)

So now I have lost enough weight that my clothes are falling off. That's a good problem to have, people always say, and don't worry, it is. The only thing is that I'm not done losing, so the size I now find myself in is a transitional size and I don't want to invest too much money in replacing my wardrobe until I'm where I want to be. I bought a couple of inexpensive pants last weekend and am wearing them to death, because even though I own some skirts that I now fit into, it's been too cold to wear skirts. Spring can't come soon enough!

But, yeah, I had to stop wearing my old pants. I looked like a hip-hop kid, with my waistband constantly falling down around my butt, showing off my undies. I don't know how they walk without losing their pants completely.

Somewhere I read that the saggy baggy look is a homage to prison, where you're forced to wear the clothes they give you, and they never fit. I've also heard that the trend (less common in recent years) of rolling up only one pant leg is another prison thing, although I don't know exactly what that is. Anyone? I used to think it was bike messenger chic.

In the wee small hours of Saturday morning

Funny, I started the last entry on Tuesday but didn't finish or post it until Thursday but the date still reads Tuesday. I don't like the way Blogger has evolved since I started - you used to be able to adjust time and date. I also have problems adding images or doing spellcheck when I'm on my home computer. Sometimes it works, sometimes not, and it might very well be a problem with my pop-up blocker, but I haven't been able to figure out why that is an issue sometimes and not other times. I know, it's a free service, I should let it go.

It was a long work week, with several full-day meetings and some air travel. Now I want to turn into a vegetable all weekend, but I need to clean in preparation for overnight company next week. I was so exhausted last night I fell asleep at 8:15 and therefore, woke this morning at 5:30, happy and refreshed. I'd get the vaccum out right now but I don't want to wake up my neighbors. (Do I sound like Miss Perfect Neighbor? Don't give me any credit, there's more than a bit of passive-aggressive at work here. If I save vacuuming on weekends until after 12, it's easier for me to feel bitchy when one of them slams his door at 2 a.m., or another has loud conversations with her boyfriend on the stairways at midnight.) I want to move. I'm going to try to hit some open houses tomorrow.

Big Love

I watched the premiere episode of "Big Love" this week. I know what you're thinking. How hypocritical to refuse to watch a show that makes entertainment out of organized crime and flock to one about polygamy? I don't endorse either, right? Don't worry, I've tried to rationalize it already to myself. But I did give "The Sopranos" two episodes, not wanting to judge without experiencing for myself, so I owe the same to this series.

Beyond that, of course, is the simple fact that marrying multiple women is not in the same league as murder and rape. Yes, it's a life style choice I'd never make, but I refuse to see violence for profit as a "life style choice." The pilot episode of "Big Love" went to great pains to point out that the three wives of the main character Bill are all adults who have made the choice to join this family. This is juxtaposed with scenes of Bill's freaky fundamentalist cultish parents and siblings, who live in a compound where fourteen year old girls marry sleazy old men and people refuse medical treatment for their loved ones out of fear of the law discovering their illegal practices. Yes, polygamy is a crime, but statutory rape is a bigger one, and the so far the series seems intent on demonstrating how you can break the less harmful taboo and not be guilty of the other.

Still, part of me is in that "get out of the kitchen" mode: Bill, if your life is so complicated by the stress of keeping your harem secret, of not having enough libido to satisfy even one of your wives, of owing money to the cult's "Prophet" for some kind of archaic tithing (or even more archaic dowry for taking his daughter as wife #2), I say, why not call it quits? Yes, having two ex wives and a current will be as financially taxing as the present situation (although as they are not legal wives, there's no legal alimony requirements, just child support for his legally bastard children), but you won't need to have as much sex, you know? But then we wouldn't have a show.

And it's an interesting show. I'm not sure if I can stick with it for the long run, but the cult stuff is creepy enough to be a draw, and most of the actors are top notch. Jeanne Tripplehorn (where has she been lately??) as wife number one and Ginnifer Goodwin (the excellent first wife in "Walk the Line") as wife number three, are both fabulous, as is Amanda Seyfried as the eldest daughter. Chloe Sevigny does her usual sour-faced bitchy turn as the Prophet's daughter/wife number two. It's interesting how Sevigny causes such an intense reaction - most people either hate her rabidly or love her. Count me in camp number one. It's interesting that HBO chose an actress who I always want to smack to play a character that is supposed to make the viewer want to smack. Go, HBO!

Sunday Art

You, too, can create a Mr. Picasso Head.

Dreaming with the Fishes

I have always had dreams about fish, stemming from a childhood incident when I was sweeping the kitchen and bent down to pick up what I thought was a crust of bread from the floor only to discover it was a dried up tropical fish. Either our cat had finally managed to wrestle it from the aquarium or it had jumped out and she happily took it on as a plaything; either way, from then on I made a wide circle to avoid walking directly past the fish tank and kept my eyes glued to the floor in front of me when I did. I hated going into stores that sold fish, especially if the aisles were narrow. In college my roommate had a goldfish in a bowl in our kitchen and it died while she was away one weekend. I didn't go into the kitchen for the 36 hours until she came home. For years, I had nightmares of fish swimming through the air around me and I was unable to escape.

So my family was fairly surprised when I told them I wanted to get my own tropical aquarium. But I had grown to like them, wanted a relatively low-maintenance pet, and figured what better way to beat an irrational fear than to face it head on?

I've learned pretty quickly how to remove a dead fish from the tank and flush it down the toilet. I no longer worry that my fish are going to jump through the tiny cracks around where the filter sticks up through the plastic cover. I don't (usually) jump when I'm vacuuming the gravel at the bottom and a fish slips past my hand in the water. But I still have nightmares.

Now they are usually about the safety and wellbeing of my own fish. For instance, last week I dreamed that I let the baby fish loose in the tank and the adults started eating them and I couldn't find the net to scoop them back up to safety. I've dreamed that I come home and the fish are in a pool of broken glass and water on the rug and I don't know how to save them. Sometimes there is an alien thing in the tank - a combination bird/fish/monster thing that I find in the morning and don't know how it got in there.

Last night I dreamed that I'd taken the fish with me when I was visiting relatives, who also had a row of full aquariums. I was packing to go home when I was told that they couldn't drive me home after all, but I'd have to take a bus. I started scheming that I could get the fish into tupperware containers, but I'd need two, since the babies and adults still needed to be separate, but then there was no way I could also carry the glass aquarium and all the accessories, plus my luggage, onto a bus - and what good would bringing the fish home do if they had no home to go home to?

And then I woke up. As usual, one of the first things I do when I wake is to turn the light on in tank so they have a chance to wake up a bit before their morning feeding. It also gives me a chance to make sure nobody has died during the night. But nope, everybody's there, everybody's happy, no aliens.

I think I'm stressing because I am going away overnight this week. Last week I had to and one of the baby fish died (now down to 16 out of the original 17.) While the adults can go a few days without food, the babies, especially the smaller, weaker ones, can't. I have used weekend/vacation feeders, which are chalky blocks that slowly dissolve and release food, but the pieces of food are much bigger than what the babies now can eat. Plus I'm not thrilled about all that chalky residue in their little plastic nursery; it dissipates fine in the large tank but might be overwhelming in the smaller quarters.

Maybe I'll check in with fishgeeks and see what advice they have to offer.

I hate "The Sopranos."

So last summer I wrote about "The Sopranos" filming in my neighborhood, and admitted that I don't watch the show. So now that it's all over the media in light of Sunday's season premiere, can I admit I hate it?

First let me say that I have watched it. I saw the first two episodes when they came out on DVD. And I was immediately turned off, not just by the excess violence (I can stop watching a show that has a lot of violence and still respect its quality) but by the way the characters embraced that violence. Yeah, I know, it's about mobsters, and they are violent people, right? Well, then, they are not people I'm interested in getting to know. I don't want to be inside the head of someone who could be that cruel and vicious. A friend told me that it's not all about that - it's about Tony's struggle to reconcile his family troubles with his career, about the way being a mobster has screwed up his life and that of those around him, blah blah blah. Well, I have a solution: QUIT. Stop killing, raping, beating, maining. And if somehow that means you wind up dead, because you can't quit being a mobster without risking your life? Still more honorable than continuing to do it and grousing about it.

I also have issues with the way the show has glorified the "profession" - not that it's been the creators' (or HBO's) intention to imply that this is a lifestyle that should be emulated, but the reality is that the phenomena around the show has made mobsters popular. A young nephew of a friend, who is 1/4 Italian, has suddenly developed a passion for his ancestry because now he thinks it's cool. Too bad he wasn't as impressed by Leonardo da Vinci, or Umberto Eco, or Dante, or Pavarotti, or Fellini, or Verdi... or any of the other multitudes of accomplished Italians I personally don't mind claiming a common heritage with. And what's an eleven year old doing watching "The Sopranos" anyway?

More evidence I'm a snob.

It drives me crazy when people refer to their husbands as "hubby." Hubby's watching tv, so I have time to write... I made chicken stir fry tonight because it's Hubby's favorite!

I don't think I'd want to be married to a man who was okay with my calling him "Hubby." Do these guys call their spouses "Wifey?" Or is it the "Little Woman" or "Ball and Chain?"

Literally?

Either Phillip Seymour Hoffman is one of the woefully large number of people who misuse the word "literally," or he really meant to say that he shit his pants on stage at the Kodak theater.

Philip Seymour Hoffman reneged on a bet when he won the Academy Award for best actor for his role in "Capote."

Years before his award-winning turn, he bet his college friends that if he ever won an Oscar he would bark (yes, like a dog) during his acceptance speech.

Backstage, he said he considered barking a few lines at the end.
But "I literally lost all control of my bowels up there," he said.

Hoffman's college friend, Steve Shoe, has told reporters in recent weeks he would make Hoffman pay if he didn't bark.

And what does Hoffman think Shoe will do to him? "I think he's going to give me a big fat hug."

I don't know what disturbs me more - Hoffman ruining his tux or not knowing what's literal and what's figurative.

Music & Politics

It shouldn't surprise you to know that I believe in religious tolerance. You can believe in whomever or whatever makes you happy, as long as you don't try to drag me into it. But then I read something like this, about the Orthodox Jewish Reggae star Matisyahu: "Shakira, for instance, was interested in bringing Matisyahu on tour. His label was pumped, but Matisyahu wasn't, due to an Orthodox Jewish custom that forbids women from singing secular songs in public."

Hey, if your religion doesn't allow you to respect me, it's hard for me to have any respect for you.

Scary thing is this guy chose this path - he grew up as a moderately religious Jewish kid in White Plains and became Orthodox after a teenage trip to Israel. Guess the girls in his suburban high school were just too outspoken?

I received another email from impeashbush.org and for once, I just thought - why? Don't get me wrong, he's still an ass, and I'd relish the idea of his removal from office, but hasn't that ship sailed? Almost everything we feared he could do has been done - the wars, the Supreme Court appointments, the lies. Isn't it time to focus on the future? Channel all of that energy into something positive, like identifying a clear message for the Democratic party to rally around?

Stuff

1) I've run into at least one site freaking out over the "travesty" of "Crash" beating "Brokeback Mountain." I guess the voting Academy are as clueless as I am, then.

2) One of the baby fish died last week, after I was forced to leave them alone overnight for a business trip. But I still have 16!

3) My favorite pedicurist quit, and the new one is trimming my toenails differently, and now I think I have an ingrown toenail. That sounds so gross. But you know what's even more gross? Googling "ingrown toenail" and seeing pictures. There's no way that's my problem - maybe she just jabbed me with the nail clippers or something.

How I Did

My picks for "Will Win": 5 out of 8 major categories correct
My picks for "Should Win": 6 out of 8 correct
Number of actual awards presented in the 8 major categories that weren't my picks either way: 0 out of 8

Too bad I'm not the betting type. Although it's clear that I should trust my own taste. The first two major awards I saw given, the supporting actor awards, were given to George Clooney and Rachel Weisz, both of whom I really wanted to win but didn't have any faith actually would.

I didn't watch the whole thing, but I'm guessing that Philip Seymour Hoffman didn't bark, or it would be all over the morning news right now. I'm disappointed. What's the point of making outlandish bets if you toss them aside when you're forced to come through? His pals better have a really big double dare lined up for him.

I thought I was a Jon Stewart fan, but hmmm. Jokes about Bjork? Cheney? Sweatpants on the red carpet? Poor guy.

Oscar addendum

When will the Oscar gift bags stop being news-worthy? Almost every media outlet is jumping on this story this weekend, just like they have for the past few years. Is there anyone out there that doesn't know that celebrities get all kinds of free shit just for being celebrities? Not sure why the expressions of shock - those same media outlets are the ones that fawn over those very same celebrities, commenting on their pretty bag or shoes or watch. Is there any interesting entertainment news out there, maybe something I haven't already read/heard/seen in another paper/magazine/radio/tv show?

My Academy Award Picks

Weren't you dying to hear my opinion?
For once in a long while, I've seen almost every single film nominated in these 8 categories (except "Cinderella Man" and "North Country.") I also haven't been this excited about a race in more than a few years - there are some great films in this list. My thoughts on who will take home the statue, plus who I'd prefer to see:

A. BEST PICTURE
1. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN - will win
2. CAPOTE
3. CRASH - I would have voted for it
4. GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
5. MUNICH

B. Best Director
1. Ang Lee - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN - Will win
2. Bennett Miller - CAPOTE
3. Paul Haggis - CRASH
4. George Clooney - GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
5. Steven Spielberg - MUNICH - Should win. This is a tough one, as I would be happy with almost any of these (except George Clooney, but he doesn't have a real shot.)

C. BEST ACTOR IN A LEADING ROLE
1. Philip Seymour Hoffman - CAPOTE - Will win, and I think he should win, also. Besides, don't you want to hear this?
2. Terrence Howard - HUSTLE & FLOW - my sentimental favorite
3. Heath Ledger - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
4. Joaquin Phoenix - WALK THE LINE
5. David Strathairn - GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.

D. BEST ACTRESS IN A LEADING ROLE
1. Judi Dench - MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS
2. Felicity Huffman - TRANSAMERICA - Should win, and maybe will? I'm torn between her and Reese
3. Keira Knightley - PRIDE & PREJUDICE
4. Charlize Theron - NORTH COUNTRY
5. Reese Witherspoon - WALK THE LINE Will win?

E. ACTOR IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
1. George Clooney - SYRIANA - Should win
2. Matt Dillon - CRASH
3. Paul Giamatti - CINDERELLA MAN - Will win
4. Jake Gyllenhaal - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN
5. William Hurt - A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE

F. ACTRESS IN A SUPPORTING ROLE
1. Amy Adams - JUNEBUG
2. Catherine Keener - CAPOTE
3. Frances McDormand - NORTH COUNTRY
4. Rachel Weisz -THE CONSTANT GARDENER - My favorite, although this is a tough tough category
5. Michelle Williams - BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN I think she just might pull it off - the booby prize for voters who felt guilty not voting for Jake or Heath

G. WRITING (ADAPTED SCREENPLAY)
1. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN - Will win, and probably should
2. CAPOTE
3. THE CONSTANT GARDENER
4. A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE
5. MUNICH

H. WRITING (ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY)
1. CRASH - Will win
2. GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK.
3. MATCH POINT
4. THE SQUID AND THE WHALE
5. SYRIANA - I'd love to see this film win something!