Oscar Appearances & more...

well....I imagine that all of you out there that you love the movies, you have already learned  the winners of last nights Academy Awards.....I think that the 2011 Oscars were given without any surprise everybody knew in advance the winners and unfortunately there was not something for discussion the days after....

Except the dresses....to tell you the truth it was my surprise  that most of the last night' s appearances were just ok...there was not someone dressed in such a way to amaze me, although there were some ladies that somehow managed to make a negative impression.....

for example Nicole Kidman and Gwyneth Paltrow... the first one wore a Christian Dior dress but to tell you the truth it looks like an origami project (and probably a bad one) and the second one with the Calvin Klein dress could definitely understudy the disco ball of Studio 54.... sorry ladies but I think that your last night dress choices were just out...... 

Now look at this gown that Marisa Tomei wore....Really??? Tim Gunn would have suffered several strokes if someone of his Project Runway kids would show something like this.... this dress makes her look like she just had 3 bottles of beer and 2 whole pizzas......  

Ok for this orange hurricane that Jennifer Hudson wears there are not enough words....even though she has lost weight and she is really lovely and beutiful this gown is like an ad for orange juice.......

Now for this appearance I am a little confused....

maybe because I love Cate Blanchett and I really don't like to say something bad...but this dress...it is like an armor...and the yellow lace on the shoulders.... not her best moment........

ok Mrs Sharon Stone has made the right choice for the dress but not the right choice for her styling....I love the dress but her hair is like Frankenstein's bride....otherwise she would be one of the best.... 

there are not much to say with the Oscar winner Natalie Portman...she is just lovely!!!!

and also she is the proof that everywoman, no matter how her body is, can be georgeous if she is dressed properly and if she is well styled!!!!!!

Another good example of good styling: the young and sweet Hailee Steinfeld is well- dressed according to her age without trying to be a woman who goes to Oscars....she is a young fresh girl and that's it!!!! 

Simply chic!!!! Again appropriate for her age Miss Jennifer Lawrence is completely different from her role in the Winter' s Bones and also really astonishing!!!!

The right classic black dress can make a woman look like a star!!!!although Maria Menounos was not one of the stars of last night she shaded most of them with her glow and her greek elegance!!!! 

For me, maybe the most beautiful female appearance in the Oscars

Last but not least, and definetely out of every comment because she is a category on her own is the fabulus Helena Bonham Carter!!!!

Last night she wore a dress made from the "Alice in Wonderland" costume designer Colleen Atwood!!!! She is the woman who does not need a special dress to stand out but the one who makes a dress unique and one of a kind!!!! Respect!!!!!

So that was it for this year!!!!!!

next year again.......I hope for better appearances and certainly for even better movies!!!!!

many kisses

&

georgeous wishes

mdq 

Oscar predictions & whisfull thinking

Hello people from a place so far away from where the Oscars will be given today.....
we are alsmost 3 hours away from the moment the Oscar ceremony begins, and I am really anxious to see who & what will receive the much desired award.....
. So if it was up to me the Oscar for best actor would be given without any doubt to Colin Firth
Even though I really liked very much the other three performances from Jeff Bridges, James Franco & Jesse Eisenberg ( I didn't see Biutiful) the way Colin Firth acted is moving without beeing melodramatic, unforgettable and definetely worth awarded.
In the best actress category the truth is that I do not have someone distinguish and to worth my Oscar vote...it's one of the few times that I feel like this. I haven't seen Michelle Williams' Blue Valentine but really I don not think that I will be amazed....so if someone has to get it I would give it to Jennifer Lawrence just because at this young age managed to act in such a depressing movie....
Again in the supporting actor category I have big problem to choose....EVERYBODY was very good!!!
I would choose Geoffrey Rush because he was also amazing in The King's Speech but he has also an Oscar so maybe I would give it to Christian Bale, but I would like also to award Mark Ruffalo because he was so different from the roles we have seen him to act so far
One more time I wish that there were more Oscars to give in the supporting actress category....as there is only one award I would give it to Helena Bonham Carter and Iwant to note that Hailee Steinfeld should have been nominated in the best actress category(where Idefinetely would give her the award)

In the director category I would like for David Fincher to win for The Social Network His directing gave the movie rythm and made it easy for the audience to understand the facts without being tiring
For adapting screenplay again I would choose The Social Network with a second choice of the 127 Hours
The original screenplay Oscar definetely I would give it to Inception (and really I did not get the reason why this movie was nominated for so few Oscars), my second choice here would be The Fighter
Finally the best movie Academy Award I hope to go either to The King's Speech or to Inception  or The Social Network

Last BUT DEFINETELY not least....I hope/wish/want/pray as I have mentioned in a previous post for Dogtooth to bring an Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film
In a few hours some people will go very happy back to their homes and some people will go less happy, as I think that just an Oscar nomination, is not only great recognition for what you do but great honor too.
Till tomorrow

Many kisses

&

Oscar wishes

mdq

On the road to Oscars

Tomorrow for someone who loves the movies (like myself) is a huge day as it is the Oscars ceremony!!!!
Eventhough I plan tomorrow to make my own predictions (or wishfull thoughts) about who should win the award I thought that it would be fun today to share with you some Oscar fun facts....so....
As you already know Greece  after 15 years with "Dogtooth" has a foreighn language movie nomination, but the country with the most foreighn language movie nominations is France (34) while the country with the most foreign language movie awards is Italy (10)

One of my favorite actresses is Katharine Hepburn, who is the only actress who has won four best actress awards.

On the other hand the sound mixer Kevin O' Connel has been nominated 18 times and yet has won 0....

Last year Kathryn Bigelow was only the fourth woman to ever receive a nomination for best director(it is a man's world...even in the movies) and fortunatelly won it for the movie "The Hurt Locker", which is the movie that was nominated for nine Oscars and managed to win the 6!!!! a considerable number if you think that so far is the movie with the lowest budget that has ever made such an Oscar success!!!

Another actress that I absolutely love,adore, respect, ....is Meryl Streep who is the actress with the most nominations: 16 in total, 13 for best actress and 3 for best actress in a supporting role. So far she has won 2 awards 
Woody Allen is the one who has the most nominations for Best Screenplay (and not as an actor...ironic???)

This year "True Grit" has the youngest and oldest acting nominees : Hailee Steinfeld turned 15 last month, and Jeff Bridges is 62. In case they win (I don't think so though they were really good) they will have only 45 seconds infront of the 3300 seats of the Kodak Theatre, to thank their families, agents, co-actors, etc etc etc. However if Jeff Bridges win this year will be the only actor who have won a best actor academy award for a role that has been already awarded: in the original version of "True Grit" of 1969 John Wayne won the Oscar for playing Rooster Cogburn
soooo what do you think???? do you think that something this year will happen that will be discussed through the years???
if you want to know more about this year's ceremony go to:
http://oscar.go.com/

dramatic kisses

&

oscar wishes

mdq

"Dogtooth": a must-see movie

This weekend is the event that everyone all over the world who loves cinema anticipates!!!!The Oscars!!!!
every year with my friends we hold a special Oscar night where we watch the ceremony without knowing the results, and we say who should win and why. Every year there are a lot of discussions and argues about the results in almost all the categories.....

Not this year....this year in one category I am sure that we all will be of the same opinion. In the category of the foreign language film, we all wish and hope that the Greek nomination will get the Oscar.

After almost 35 years since a Greek film  had been nominated for an Oscar, I think that this film  "Dogtooth" has really good chances to bring an Oscar back here.

Although I watched it last year, it did such an impression to me that I still remember everything so well.

It is a story about a family, mother- father & three children, who live in a suburb of Athens. The house is in a remote place and it is surrounded by a tall fence that prohibits its inhabitants to see what there is outside of it. The parents are the only ones that the children can get in contact with, their only influence.

For me it is really a simple story, like the story of Tarzan or the story of Mowgli in The Jungle Book. At first we are what our environment wants us to be, but the human instinct  will eventually drive us to see what is "behind the fence".

"Dogtooth" is a complete work of art, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, that gives us some unexpected and different  point of view on the family dynamics. The actors are hurtfully good in their roles with a simple and plain way of acting. The scenery has a '70s sense and it is really artistic and stylish. This is a dark movie, however has many funny and comic scenes, which give a nice balance to it.

I think that if you see this movie either you will love it (as me) or you will hate it....there is no middle, and it is not possible to be indifferent about it, and this is the fact that makes this movie great: either way you will remember it, and for sure when you leave the theatre you will have a topic to discuss it.

So... please write in the comment section, what do you think about this movie. I am really intersted to read your thoughts. Especially if you do not live in Greece, even if you havent' seen the movie, just from the trailer, tell me what impression it made to you.

How much of "nothing" is enough???

Well.... this weekend the weather forecast was heavy rains, so I decided to stay home and do absolutely "nothing"....
that means, that I decided that I would not work at all, I wouldn't even pass the door of my workshop, that I would not go for the usual weekly shopping, that I would not make any plans to go out on Saturday night or that I would miss the usual Sunday  lunch with my brother's family....
The plan was to do "nothing".................
but "nothing" has a different meaning for each one of us....
so my "nothing" includes:
not one, not two but four long walks with my dog
at least one hour each day of hugging and cuddling with my cat
watching some episodes of my favorite TV series, like:



 

"Detroit 1-8-7", "Law & Order SVU", "Parenthood", "Grey's Anatomy", "The Good Wife", "Southland"

reading a blog that my friend Maslinda suggested, which tells you how to "Blog Like A Pro With 100 Tips" ( very intersting I suggest that you read it too)

speaking, planning and gossiping, for at least one hour on the phone with one of my best friends di Depux,

Christy

chatting several times during the 2 days through facebook, phone, or sms with my niece Christy who lives in Patra,

creating a playlist for my i-pod, and listening to it while washing the dishes and cleaning the food cabinet,

voting for my favorite movies for the Oscars at the "New York Times"  site (Do Not forget to vote for "Dogtooth" in the foreign movie category and soon I ll explain why)

making microwave pop-corn and eating them while watching the movie "True Grit"

and last but not least writing this post!!!!!!

Sunday is still on for the next 11 hours here in Athens, which means that  I 'll still have the luxury to do my kind of nothing

what is your kind of nothing????

kisses & wishes

mdq





art is just a google away!!!!

  Good morning people of the world!!!!!!
anyone who knows me a little knows that my belief is that inspiration can be found everywhere, in everything, in the most strange places, in the most unexpected forms.....

the same belief I have about art also.... art is not only a painting or a sculpture, art can be a wall graffiti, a window in a shop, a magazine cover....

so on Monday when I was using Google, I noticed that due to St. Valentine's day the famous Google logo had been changed to this :

 then I realized that in several cases Google changes its logo, and I remembered that two weeks before I met this really amazing google logo:

which I didn't know what it was about but it was a motive to try to find out ..... it was for Jules Verne 183rd birthday!!!!!

several times it is like a game with my friends to guess what each logo stands for, sometimes like St. Valentines or Christmas it is of course obvious

but other times not so much....

for example although I am a Jane Austin' s fun I would never though that this logo was about the writer's 235th birthday on December 16th

in my opinion, one thing is for sure....that all these logos are a form of art!!!!

Google names all these special logos Doodles, and the first Doodle was created when the  Google founders aiming to show that they would attend the Burning Man festival in the Nevada, inserted in   the original  logo a stick figure drawing  behind the 2nd "o" in the word Google.

Today there is a special team in the Google offices that has created over 300 doodles for Google.com in the United States and over 700 have been designed internationally.

so I ll share with you some of my favorites but you can find the complete series of Doodles over the years here: http://www.google.com/logos/logos10-4.html

 



Mar 07, Piet Mondrian's Birthday



Oct 25, Happy Birthday Picasso



Mar 14, Albert Einstein's Birthday




Jun 16, MC Escher's Birthday



                                   

 

 

2004 Athens Olympic Games

 you can see all the amazing 2004 Athens Olympic Doodles here
http://www.google.com/logos/logos04-3.html

Mar 30, Vincent Van Gogh's Birthday

Jun 08, Frank Lloyd Wright's Birthday


 



Apr 15, Leonardo Da Vinci's



Aug 13, Alfred Hitchcock's Birthday

 

Jan 27, Mozart's Birthday




  

Jun 06, Diego Velázquez's Birthday

Sep 01, Filopimin Finos - (Greece)



Jun 07, 2008 Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Birthday


  

Sep 29, Miguel de Cervantes' Birthday





Oct 31, Birthday of Katsushika Hokusai



Mar 02, Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!



Nov 10, 2009 Sesame Street: Ensemble

 


Dec 19, 95th Birthday of Edith Piaf


 

May 21, 2010 PAC-MAN's 30th Anniversary Doodle



Sep 15, Agatha Christie's 120th Birthday



Nov 21,  René Magritte's 110th Birthday

 And last but certenly not least, as for this one I am very proud, as I think that the Acropolis Museum is one of the best musuems in the world, but also because this date happens to be my birthday!!!!!!


Jun 20, 2009 Opening of the Acropolis Museum