And the Oscar Goes to...

The 84th Academy Awards are on tonight!  I haven't been into the awards for a few years (probably because of the terrible nominee selections that the Academy keeps picking), but I thought this time I'd give it a shot on picking the winners.  Who I want to win (out of the selections) and who I think the Academy will pick.

Best Picture:

"The Artist" Thomas Langmann, Producer

"The Descendants" Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
"Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" Scott Rudin, Producer

"The Help" Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers

"Hugo" Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
"Midnight in Paris" Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
"Moneyball" Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
"The Tree of Life" Nominees to be determined
"War Horse" Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

This one is hard because the Academy tends to pick based on more than what people know or think was a great movie.  (Big surprise)  I think a lot of the movies were good, but on this list the movie "The Help" was the most widely loved and spoken of, Spielberg and Scorsese movies always do well in the Academy, but I think its only really because they're Spielberg and Scorsese movies.  Sucking up much Academy?

Actor in a Leading Role:
Demián Bichir in "A Better Life"
George Clooney in "The Descendants"
Jean Dujardin in "The Artist"
Gary Oldman in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
Brad Pitt in "Moneyball"

Actress in a Leading Role:
Glenn Close in "Albert Nobbs"
Viola Davis in "The Help"
Rooney Mara in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"

Meryl Streep in "The Iron Lady"

Michelle Williams in "My Week with Marilyn"

This is a weird one for me.  Meryl Streep is The Academy's sweetheart, she is a fabulous actress so the title is easily earned, but I feel like she is going to have a hard time against a cross dressing Glenn Close and the stunning (and scary) come out performance of Rooney Mara.  Believe me, Mara definitely earned the nod from the Academy for this one.

Actor in a Supporting Role:
Kenneth Branagh in "My Week with Marilyn"

Jonah Hill in "Moneyball"

Nick Nolte in "Warrior"
Christopher Plummer in "Beginners"
Max von Sydow in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"

I'd like to see Jonah Hill win an Oscar, just cause that would be awesome.  Now I love Christopher Plummer so I'd be happy if he won also.

Actress in a Supporting Role:
Bérénice Bejo in "The Artist"
Jessica Chastain in "The Help"
Melissa McCarthy in "Bridesmaids"
Janet McTeer in "Albert Nobbs"
Octavia Spencer in "The Help"

I actually love all the actresses in this category so it's hard to choose the one I like more, but come on, who wouldn't want to see McCarthy win in a surprising moment where a comedy chick wins!

Animated Feature Film:
"A Cat in Paris" Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
"Chico & Rita" Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
"Kung Fu Panda 2" Jennifer Yuh Nelson
"Puss in Boots" Chris Miller

"Rango" Gore Verbinski

Either way I'm good. :)

Art Direction:
"The Artist" Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan

"Hugo" Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
"Midnight in Paris" Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
"War Horse" Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

Another tough one.  I am a HUGE Potterhead, so I think the few nominations they received should all go to them, but I'm a realist and the Academy doesn't care for Harry Potter at all.  The last was so beautiful that I think it should definitely be in the top three.  But yet again Spielberg and Scorsese are in there, and all five of the movies had beautiful art direction.

Cinematography:
"The Artist" Guillaume Schiffman
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Jeff Cronenweth

"Hugo" Robert Richardson

"The Tree of Life" Emmanuel Lubezki

"War Horse" Janusz Kaminski

This one bugs me because Hugo will probably win but that movie has A LOT of visual effects and I like more honest cinematography (like Pride & Prejudice in 2006, that is probably my favorite cinematography ever).  War Horse was a beautiful movie.  Wonderful coloring, great views, etc.

Costume Design:
"Anonymous" Lisy Christl
"The Artist" Mark Bridges
"Hugo" Sandy Powell
"Jane Eyre" Michael O'Connor
"W.E." Arianne Phillips

I think Jane Eyre could win tonight.  I want to say it would no matter what, but even though Anonymous was not a huge hit with most, it has a wider range of costume design than Jane Eyre does.

Directing:

"The Artist" Michel Hazanavicius

"The Descendants" Alexander Payne

"Hugo" Martin Scorsese

"Midnight in Paris" Woody Allen
"The Tree of Life" Terrence Malick

Film Editing:
"The Artist" Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
"The Descendants" Kevin Tent

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall

"Hugo" Thelma Schoonmaker
"Moneyball" Christopher Tellefsen

Makeup:
"Albert Nobbs" Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" Edouard F. Henriques, Gregory Funk and Yolanda Toussieng
"The Iron Lady" Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

Music (Original Score):
"The Adventures of Tintin" John Williams

"The Artist" Ludovic Bource

"Hugo" Howard Shore
"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" Alberto Iglesias

"War Horse" John Williams

Music (Original Song):

"Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets" Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie

"Real in Rio" from "Rio" Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett

Sound Editing:
"Drive" Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Ren Klyce

"Hugo" Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty

"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl

"War Horse" Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

Hard to pick because I like "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and it could be up for it but Transformers is definitely a movie with A LOT of sound effects and it would need a lot of work.

Sound Mixing:
"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
"Hugo" Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
"Moneyball" Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick

"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin

"War Horse" Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson

Visual Effects:

"Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson

"Hugo" Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning

"Real Steel" Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
"Rise of the Planet of the Apes" Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier

Writing (Adapted Screenplay):
"The Descendants" Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
"Hugo" Screenplay by John Logan

"The Ides of March" Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon

"Moneyball" Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. Story by Stan Chervin

"Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" Screenplay by Bridget O'Connor & Peter Straughan

Writing (Original Screenplay):
"The Artist" Written by Michel Hazanavicius
"Bridesmaids" Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
"Margin Call" Written by J.C. Chandor
"Midnight in Paris" Written by Woody Allen
"A Separation" Written by Asghar Farhadi

I would like to see "Bridesmaids" to win because its such a rare feat for a movie like it to get an Academy nod, but "Midnight in Paris" has a great idea/storyline and "The Artist" is a favorite with critics.

I didn't add in the categories: Short Film (Live Action), Short Film (Animated), Foreign Language Film, Documentary (Short Subject),  and Documentary (Feature).  I have no knowledge on any of the things listed so I'm not giving a guess as to what the somewhat predictable Academy will pick. 

Only a little while to go until the Oscars start!  Anyone else have some predictions?

Tea Time!

I'm from the south, where BBQ can be found on every corner, dessert year round usually includes Blue Bell ice cream, and iced tea is consumed twice as much as water.  Iced tea is the go to drink for everything, dinner, parties, hot days (believe me there are A LOT of those here), and just the basic 'I'm thirsty'.  I love tea.  Absolutely could not go with out tea (one of my favorites is raspberry sweet tea).  But it wasn't until I was older that I started appreciating hot tea as much as iced.  Now I drink hot tea all day.  When I'm reading, writing, working on this blog, job searching, or just thirsty (I still drink iced tea with dinner though ;]).  My favorites recently have been English Breakfast, Earl Grey, and Chai.

Unfortunately for me I don't own a proper teapot (wish list!) so every once and a while I do a little searching for some teapots I would love to have.  In general I love tea themed items, European designs mostly (English and French are my favs), including decorations, art, clothes, and food.

This is an adorable teapot pearl necklace!  I found it in charmsarang's Etsy store, along with a few other cute charms.  I love the old gold color, I can't stand bright gold jewelry, and pearl is one of my birthstones!

I love the color of these Staffordshire Tiffany card labels!  These things half tempt me to redo my still in progress blog layout in a theme based on them.  I also found these on Etsy, at the ifiwerecards store.

This dress, from Modcloth, makes me want to find a white patio table, a classic tea set, and have afternoon tea in a garden.  Since I have none of those things, or this dress, I'll just be fantasizing while I drink English Breakfast tea out of my coffee mug in my PJs.

I adore the Regency period in history, so I think some of my favorite tea set designs are from that era.  They had so many different fashions for them.  Some day I am supposed to inherit some very beautiful sets of tea cups and saucers (no pots :/) and can't wait to actually put them to use instead of just for decoration!

Anyone else enjoy hot tea? 

Happy Valentines Day!

It's Valentine's Day, and everyone is gearing up for a day filled with chocolate, jewelry, and entirely too much red and pink.

Barely ten minutes into Valentine's and Google already has everyone talking with their adorable Valentine's Day video, it ends with all sorts of couples (milk and a cookie, princess and a frog, etc.), representing the many different forms of love, but what is pretty amazing about it is the gay couple they also put in there!  Go Google on making an awesome statement in such a cute and innocent way!

Kudos Google, Kudos.

In the mean time I made a video (that I meant to put up yesterday) about Pandora Bracelets and why they should not be bought, for ANY reason, but mainly for Valentine's Day since it's the closest jewelry giving holiday.  Sorry it's kind of long, I just couldn't stop once I started going!  Haha.

I pretty much can't stand Pandora Bracelets, I think they are not as classic as a simple ring/necklace/tennis bracelet/earrings that can go with any thing to any occasion and do not faze out of style (if you're looking at getting jewelry that is).  Plus the things are ridiculously over priced considering they are just charm bracelets.

Now that I finally have this video up I'm going to get some sleep!  I was making bread (from scratch!) last night and need to finish up some Valentine's Day stuff for my family!

Tell me what you think of Pandora Bracelets.  Love?  Hate?  Can't stand them but they one day might come in handy as a weapon when someone is trying to steal your obviously fake Gucci bag, with the label spelling 'Guci' instead of 'Gucci', because no one would even bother with the thousands of dollars worth of beads around your wrist so you might as well keep them and make them useful?  Let me know! :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Instagram Love

Over a year ago I started an Instagram account, posted one photo, and promptly forgot about it for a couple of months.  When I finally remembered I loaded a few more photos, forgot a couple of months again, remembered again, loaded a bunch more photos, and then didn't think about it for almost two thirds of last year.

So a little over a month ago I had to stay some where for a few days and had a lot of time on my hands.  I started looking through my photos, I have around 2000 of my own recent pics on my iPhone at any given time, and decided to load a few to Instagram.  I had this fear of people stealing anything I loaded online after seeing it happen to so many others, but I quickly got over that after the addiction set in.

I post fairly regularly, and enjoy having a place to put up all the photos of scrumptious food, cool finds, and things I didn't remember even taking a picture of.  I'm thinking of going back through all my old iPhone pics, there has to be zillions by now, and loading up some more to the app.  I only have a 3GS so the quality isn't that great, and I don't know how to do a lot of editing so its pretty much just the plain filters from the app.

Originally I was thinking about making the app for my food pictures only, which you can see take up a large percentage if you look at these posted pics or my Instagram account, but that went out the window when I was so excited to eat my food that I often forgot to take photos until after it was all gone!  I, also, am not a big fan of the square format they force, so many of my pictures have the top and bottom black bars to fit in the whole picture.

I take most photos randomly, so there aren't a lot from the same moments.  Because of this I can't really posts lots of my own photos (right now) as a one theme blog post without them just being broad subjects like 'what I did this week' and 'food I can't believe I got a picture of before I devoured it'.  Until then Instagram Love posts will be a modge podge of my comings and goings, and a zigzag tour through my indescribable food fetish!

Follow me on:
Instagram: missmandapanda
Ink361: http://ink361.com/missmandapanda
Instagrid: http://instagrid.me/missmandapanda

The Black Moth Book Review

I finished The Black Moth by Georgette Heyer this morning while waiting for a doctor's appointment and decided to attempt a video review of it.

The Black Moth center's on Jack Carstares, a young Earl who six years ago was accused of cheating at cards and to protect his younger brother (the real cheater) took the blame and vanished, now he has returned as a Robin Hood highwayman to give him something to do since he was once again in England.  After a few heists, in which he almost robs his little brother and his old best friend (both of which had not seen him in six years) on two different occasions, he ends up rescuing a lady from being kidnapped by his old adversary, the Duke of Andover.

Of course from there they fall in love, can't be together because he says he's a disgraced man/highwayman without telling her the whole truth, they separate, lots of shady plotting by others, and then of course she gets kidnapped again!  Hence another rescue, a daring duel, the truth revealled about the cheating years before, and everyone ends happy.

I thought it was great, but was a bit hard to get focused on one part of the storyline because so many were constantly brought back up in the midst of another.  I do recommend the book, although I haven't found a Georgette Heyer I haven't wanted to recommend, so if you get a chance give it a shot.

Tell me what you think of the book, review, and video!

a few faves

This week I've been a little sick so I spent more time sleeping and being a baby than actually doing anything.  I did happen to find a few things I really liked even with refusing to get up from my warm bed, haha.

Sherlock the TV series:

I recently started watching Sherlock and I love it!  I had heard a lot of good things but I have always been more of a movie person than a TV show person so I kind of put it off.  With the new season over I decided to finally give it a shot, and I am really glad I did.  I couldn't stop laughing and I was having so much fun trying to solve the story before Sherlock did (I got the first guy way before he did!).

This delicious sandwich at The Flying Saucer:

 

This was one of the best sandwiches I think I ever had.  It is entirely simplistic in taste but it was so good I ate it as slow as possible.  It's called the Pork Belly and it has: shredded pork belly, ham,& bacon piled high with lettuce, tomato & jalapeno-apple chutney.  The chutney was the best part!

Georgette Heyer:

In a Booklust post I started talking about the prolific Georgette Heyer, one of my absolutely favorite authors of all time.  In the past couple of weeks I've read seven of her books, unfortunately these books were library copies.  I'm planning on slowly expanding my collection, as I can afford it, so I can own all of the amazing world of Heyer.  I recommend her books to anyone who likes reading and history!

Instagram:

I started an account with Instagram over a year ago and for a while I didn't participate much.  I take way more than enough photos it just always worried me to have photos I liked floating around the internet (so many people taking credit for other's photos) but then a little while ago I decided to give it another go.  I really love it!  Anyone want to find me my username is "missmandapanda".

That's all for now!  Anyone else like one of my faves?  Let me know! :)

A quick about me!

Who am I? And what is this place about?

I'm not sure if either of those questions are easy to answer but let me give it a try!

My name is Amanda, missmandapanda pretty much everywhere I am online, and I'm a 23 year old unending source of energy.  I have a degree in Marketing, currently looking for a position somewhere, but my dream is to write books.  I am an avid reader, reading probably a couple hundred books a year, most of them being old literature, obscure out of print authors/books, Regency & Victorian period, fantasy/magic, and anything that just happens to catch my fancy (I'm such a book nerd the librarians at school used to ask me about what books to add to the school's library!).  I start writing a new story on a daily basis, getting pages down before I decide to start penning some thing else that was floating around in my head, unfortunately pushing my bad habit of not finishing one of my books haha.

In between reading way too much and writing down my imagination I manage to fit in a love for photography, a need of great food, being a complete dork, some crafts, the pursuit to learn everything I have wanted to know how to do, movies, cultures, art, my family, and friends.

This blog is a place I want to share my ramblings about a zillion different things from my life to my opinion on well, pretty much anything.  When I started it I didn't realize how much work a blog like this would take, so now that I can focus on more than studying and praying I wouldn't blow a final, I plan on working harder to update regularly and with something fun to read.

I write about books, clothes, crafts, photography, food, life, the nifty, the random, and everything else.