pause

did you ever hear the story of the christmas tree,
who just didn’t want to change the show.
he liked living in the woods and playing with squirrels,
he liked icicles and snow.

he liked wolves and eagles and grizzly bears
and critters and creatures that crawled,
why bugs were some of his very best friends
spiders and ants and all.

now that’s not to say that he ever looked down
on a vision of twinkling lights,
or on mirrored bubbles and peppermint canes
and a thousand other delights.

and he often had dreams of tiny reindeer
and a jolly old man in a sleigh,
full of toys and presents and wonderful things
and the story of Christmas day.

oh, Alfie believed in Christmas alright,
he was full of Christmas cheer.
all of each and every day,
and all throughout the year.

to him it was more than a special time,
much more than a special day.
it was more than a beautiful story,
it was a special kind of way.

you see some folks have never heard a jingle bell ring,
and they’ve never heard of santa claus.
they’ve never heard the story of the son of god,
and that made Alfie pause.

did that mean that they’d never know of peace on earth,
or the brotherhood of man.
or know how to love, or know how to give,
if they can’t, no one can.

you see, life is a very special kind of thing,
not just for a chosen few.
but for each and every living, breathing thing,
not just me and you.

so in your Christmas prayers this year,
Alfie asked me if I’d ask you,
say a prayer for the wind and the water and the wood
and those who live there too.

-the one and only john denver (and the muppets)

Merry Christmas, shiny and bright to all.
house of m

32 years. gone by in a blink.

let's hope that these continue to become rules rather than exceptions in this life of mine.

here's to a great 32nd year. to the friends i've lost, the more amazing ones i've gained.

to the blessings that i enjoy every day. even on the bad ones.

to the moments of this life that take my breath away, especially when i least expect it.

and to the laughter. oh, the laughter!

and to the love.

my cup runneth over.

push rewind

"Nostalgia - it's delicate, but potent. Teddy told me that in Greek, 'nostalgia' literally means "the pain from an old wound.' It's a twinge in your heart far more powerful than memory alone. This device isn't a spaceship, it's a time machine. It goes backwards, and forwards... it takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It's not called the wheel, it's called the carousel. It let's us travel the way a child travels - around and around, and back home again, to a place where we know we are loved."

who knew watching drunk people could be so much fun?

In honor of the Golden Globes and my yearly tradition, all hail my calls for outcome!

Motion Picture Drama: “Avatar”; “The Hurt Locker”; “Inglourious Basterds”; “Precious”; “Up in the Air”
WHO WILL WIN: This is a toughie, but in a squeaker I’m calling “The Hurt Locker”.

Motion Picture Comedy/Musical: “(500) Days of Summer”; “The Hangover”; “It’s Complicated”; “Julie & Julia”; “Nine”
WHO WILL WIN: Though “Nine” might take it just because the HFPA likes to do such things to us innocent movie lovers, I’m holding my ground and going with “Julie & Julia”. And not at all for Amy Adams (who was, let’s be honest, not at her best), but rather for Tucci, Lynch and most importantly Streep. And for the record, I only pick J&J over "The Hangover" to hedge my bets.

Actress in a Drama: Emily Blunt, “The Young Victoria”; Sandra Bullock, “The Blind Side”; Helen Mirren, “The Last Station”; Carey Mulligan, “An Education”; Gabourey Sidibe, “Precious”
WHO WILL WIN: I have to admit, I didn’t see “The Last Station”, or “An Education”, so I’m going strictly on gut and hype here. Siding with Mulligan for “An Education”.

Actor in a Drama: Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart”; George Clooney, “Up in the Air”; Colin Firth, “A Single Man”; Morgan Freeman, “Invictus”; Tobey Maguire, “Brothers”
WHO WILL WIN: The pull will be for Bridges here, and he may just take it, but my heart remains true and I’m going with Firth. The movie would have been nothing without his brilliant and heartbreaking performance.

Actress in a Comedy/Musical: Sandra Bullock, “The Proposal”; Marion Cotillard, “Nine”; Julia Roberts, “Duplicity”; Meryl Streep, “It’s Complicated”; Meryl Streep, “Julie & Julia
WHO WILL WIN: I’m going with Streep here for “Julie & Julia”. Bon appetite!

Actor in a Comedy/Musical: Matt Damon, “The Informant!”; Daniel Day-Lewis, “Nine”; Robert Downey Jr., “Sherlock Holmes”; Joseph Gordon-Levitt, “(500) Days of Summer”; Michael Stuhlbarg, “A Serious Man”
WHO WILL WIN: I for one, was a huge fan of “500 Days” and especially Gordon-Levitt, but sadly performances like that rarely end up taking home the overpriced doorstop. I’m going with Damon.

Best Animated Feature Film: 'Up', 'Fantastic Mr. Fox', 'Coraline', 'The Princess and the Frog', 'Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs'
WHO WILL WIN: “Up” has it. One wonders if the Heene’s will be watching the show?

Best Foreign Language Film: 'The Maid', 'Broken Embraces', 'The White Ribbon', 'Baaria', 'Prophet'
WHO WILL WIN: This girl likes a great foreign film as much as the next person, but I have to admit I have seen none of these (it doesn’t help that I live in a town that thinks “It’s Complicated” is progressive). Based on hype, and hype alone, I’m going with “Broken Embraces”.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Mo'Nique, 'Precious', Anna Kendrick, 'Up in the Air', Vera Farmiga, 'Up in the Air', Penelope Cruz, 'Nine', Julianne Moore, 'A Single Man'
WHO WILL WIN: Going with miss Mo’Nique here. I hear she brings it in a major way. Props must be made to Julianne Moore though. She’s damn fun to watch in “A Single Man”.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Christoph Waltz, 'Inglourious Basterds', Woody Harrelson, 'The Messenger', Matt Damon, 'Invictus', Stanley Tucci, 'The Lovely Bones', Christopher Plummer, 'The Last Station'
WHO WILL WIN: This was a rather tough top 3 for me, but I’m going with Waltz in Basterds. You have to love a guy who leaves the “e” off the end of his name and just doesn’t give a shit.

Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, 'The Hurt Locker', James Cameron, 'Avatar', Quentin Tarantino, 'Inglourious Basterds', Jason Reitman, 'Up in the Air', Clint Eastwood, 'Invictus'
WHO WILL WIN: I want Bigelow to win big time here, but Tarantino will probably give her a run for her money. This one will be tight.

Best Screenplay: 'Inglourious Basterds,' Quentin Tarantino, 'The Hurt Locker,' Mark Boal, 'Up in the Air,' Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, from the novel by Walter Kim, 'District 9,' Neill Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell, 'It's Complicated,' Nancy Meyers
WHO WILL WIN: I’m giving this one to Tarantino. He’s a writers writer and he nails it in Basterds.

Best Original Score: James Horner, 'Avatar', Michael Giacchino, 'Up', Karen O, Carter Burwell, 'Where the Wild Things Are', Marvin Hamlisch, 'The Informant', Abel Korzeniowski, 'A Single Man'
WHO WILL WIN: Those who know me well, know my absolute devotion to that which is the movie score/soundtrack. Thus, much time and respect was given to the prediction for this category. I know there’s no shot in hell that he’ll get it, but I’m going with Korzeniowski. In all reality though, it will probably go to Horner for putting music to the blue thingies.

Best Original Song: 'I See You' by Leona Lewis, from 'Avatar', '(I Want to) Come Home' by Paul McCartney, from 'Everybody's Fine' ,'Cinema Italiano by' Kate Hudson, from 'Nine' , 'Winter' by U2, from ' Brothers' , 'The Weary Kind' by Ryan Bingham, from 'Crazy Heart'
WHO WILL WIN: Consider this my official plea to HFPA to not give this award to Kate Hudson. I’ll give anything in return. And I don’t say that lightly. In fact, can we not even announce that she was nominated? Please. Again, begging here. I’m going with Bingham for “Crazy Heart”.

Comedy Series: “30 Rock”; “Entourage”; “Glee”; “Modern Family”; “The Office”
WHO WILL WIN: I take great pride in the fact that I turned on several of my close acquaintances to both “Glee” and “Modern Family”, so this is a toss-up. Oh, what the hell, I’ll take “Modern Family” for the win, Alex.

Comedy Actress: Toni Collette, “United States of Tara”; Courteney Cox, “Cougar Town”; Edie Falco, “Nurse Jackie”; Tina Fey, “30 Rock”; Lea Michele, “Glee”
WHO WILL WIN: Never seen “Nurse Jackie” (quite frankly Falco with her hair that painfully short reminds me of a not so fun haircut phase as a young child). “Cougar Town” is fast-paced and witty, but lacks a substancial amount of depth. I’m going with the beloved TF again. She’s brilliant and this must continually be acknowledged. Plus, I want to see another awesome acceptance speech.

Comedy Actor: Alec Baldwin, “30 Rock”; Steve Carell, “The Office”; David Duchovny, “Californication”; Thomas Jane, “Hung”; Matthew Morrison, “Glee”
WHO WILL WIN: Gotta go Baldwin here. He shines each week and the others, though try as they might, just don’t stack up.

Drama Series: “Big Love”; “Dexter”; “House”; “Mad Men”; “True Blood”
WHO WILL WIN: I feel bad for going with “Mad Men”, but not for lack of love. I not only love this show, I loooooove it. The problem is, “Dexter” is sort of due by now and the episodes I have seen (I know, I know) are pretty damn good. Down to the wire though, I have to go with the Men.

Drama Actress: Glenn Close, “Damages”; January Jones, “Mad Men”; Julianna Margulies, “The Good Wife”; Anna Paquin, “True Blood”; Kyra Sedgwick, “The Closer”
WHO WILL WIN: Weird group here, which has the possibility to confuse me and throw off my prediction judgment. So, in the end I have to stick with Jones.

Drama Actor: Simon Baker, “The Mentalist”; Michael C. Hall, “Dexter”; Jon Hamm, “Mad Men”; Hugh Laurie, “House”; Bill Paxton, “Big Love”
WHO WILL WIN: In relation to my pick for best Drama Series, I actually think Hall stands a really decent chance here. And on a side note, not sure who Baker paid to get here (and trust me, I adore the guy), but I think we could have done better HFPA.

Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV: “Grey Gardens”, “Into the Storm”, “Georgia O’Keefe”, “Little Dorrit”, “Taking Chance”
WHO WILL WIN: “Taking Chance” was great, but so was “Grey Gardens”. I’ll have to pass on “O’Keefe” just because I don’t devote that much time to the Lifetime network and I don’t even know what the hell “Little Dorrit” is. Going with “Grey Gardens” for this one.

Best Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV: Joan Allen, “Georgia O’Keefe”, Drew Barrymore, “Grey Gardens”, Jessica Lange, “Grey Gardens”, Anna Paquin, “The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler”, Sigourney Weaver, “Prayers For Bobby”
WHO WILL WIN: Jessica Lange will take this one. I cringe at how shy she will be during her acceptance speech, but at least that will give me time to get up from the couch to feed and water. Breaks are essential and we take the gift when we’re given.

Best Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV: Kevin Bacon, “Taking Chance”, Kenneth Branagh, “Wallander: One Step Behind”, Chiwetel Ejiofor, “Endgame”, Brendan Gleeson, “Into the Storm”, Jeremy Irons, “Georgia O’Keefe”
WHO WILL WIN: Bacon for this one. Though it’s tight between him and Gleeson.

Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV: Jane Adams, “Hung”, Rose Byrne, “Damages”, Jane Lynch, “Glee”, Janet McTeer “Into the Storm”, Chloe Sevigny, “Big Love”
WHO WILL WIN: “Cockfight. Fantastic.” Lynch ALL THE WAY for this one. I can’t wait.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV: Michael Emerson, “Lost”, Neil Patrick Harris, “How I Met Your Mother”, William Hurt, “Damages”, John Lithgow, “Dexter”, Jeremy Piven, “Entourage”
WHO WILL WIN: Piven pretty much lost this one by consuming all that sushi and the rest of the squad probably doesn’t stand a chance against Harris. I’m going NPH.