Hollywood Legends

During the weekend of before Halloween, one of my friends and I got together in the King of Prussia area of Pennsylvania. We went shopping for a few hours at the mall and I particularly wanted to show my friend a cool store filled with pop culture merchandise. The store is called "Beyond the Wall," and featured items themed with images of old Hollywood icons along the store front.


I first found out about the store when a few workers were at my college campus on the first day of the Fall 2010 semester to sell merchandise. After that, I searched online to find out where the store's closest locations were at.


At one point, my friend picked up an 8x10 image of Marilyn Monroe sitting and wearing a long-skired ballerina costume. My friend didn't know that I saw her looking at the item, so that gave me the perfect idea for her Christmas present this year.


We continued to browse through the pop culture merchandise that surrounded us for a little while longer. I decided to buy a photo book of James Dean and my friend bought a poster of a recent favorite movie. Since she didn't buy the Marilyn Monroe image, I planned to come back another time to buy it when my friend would not be shopping with me.


However, the weekend before Christmas arrived and I found a larger version of the same image to buy for my friend. It was being sold by a vender who was set up somewhere in the main corridor of a mall closer to where I live. On Dec. 23, I went back up to visit my friend and give her the present. She loved it, and I could tell it was a total surprise to receive the Marilyn Monroe image. She said that she had seen a few of Monroe's movies in the past.


One of my presents this year from family turned out to be this cool James Dean image.

With our mutual interest in Old Hollywood, I think my friend and I will watch James Dean's and Marilyn Monroe's movies when we get together next time.

Golden Globes 2011

The list of my Golden Globe favorites to win, or guesses at who / what will win, is similar to that of my Critics' Choice picks...with a few categories having ties. I wasn't sure at all which nominee to pick for the best original song category.

• Best Motion Picture Drama - "Inception"
• Best Actress Drama - Natalie Portman, "Black Swan" / Michelle Williams, "Blue Valentine"
• Best Actor Drama - James Franco, "127 Hours"
• Best Motion Picture Comedy or Musical - "Alice in Wonderland"
• Best Actress Comedy or Musical - Anne Hathaway, "Love and Other Drugs"
• Best Actor Comedy or Musical - Jake Gyllenhaal, "Love and Other Drugs"
• Best Animated Feature - "How to Train Your Dragon" / "Tangled"
• Best Foreign Language Film - "Biutiful" / "I Am Love"
• Best Actress in Supporting Role - Amy Adams, "The Fighter"
• Best Actor in Supporting Role - Geoffrey Rush, "The King's Speech"
• Best Director - Christopher Nolan, "Inception"
• Best Screenplay - Boyle & Beaufoy, "127 Hours" / Nolan, "Inception"
• Best Original Score - Hans Zimmer, "Inception"
• Best Original Song - ?
• Best TV Series Drama - "Mad Men"
• Best Actress in TV Series Drama - Katey Sagal, "Sons of Anarchy"
• Best Actor in TV Series Drama - Jon Hamm, "Mad Men"
• Best TV Series Comedy or Musical - "Glee"
• Best Actress in TV Series Comedy or Musical - Laura Linney, "The Big C"
• Best Actor in TV Series Comedy or Musical - Steve Carell, "The Office"
• Best Mini-Series or TV Movie - "The Pacific"
• Best Actress in Mini-Series or TV Movie - Claire Danes, "Temple Grandin" / Judi Dench, "Return to Cranford"
• Best Actor in Mini-Series or TV Movie - Al Pacino, "You Don't Know Jack"
• Best Supporting Actress in Mini-Series or TV Movie - Julia Stiles, "Dexter"
• Best Supporting Actor in Mini-Series or TV Movie - David Strathairn, "Temple Grandin"

With certain actors, actresses, directors and films getting nominations for both award ceremonies, I'm very curious about the Oscar nominations this year.

Critics' Choice Awards 2011

Today I was looking at the list of nominees for the Critics' Choice Awards and picked out my favorites to win. Some are also some guesses about who / what I think will win, basing those guesses somewhat on the buzz I've heard. Some categories are tied for me and there was one I couldn't really decide on, hence the question mark. So, here are the ones I chose:

• Best Picture - "Inception" / "127 Hours"
• Best Actor - James Franco, "127 Hours"
• Best Actress - Natalie Portman, "Black Swan" / Michelle Williams, "Blue Valentine"
• Best Supporting Actor - Mark Ruffalo, "The Kids are All Right"
• Best Supporting Actress - Amy Adams, "The Fighter"
• Best Young Actor or Actress - Jennifer Lawrence, "Winter's Bone"
• Best Acting Ensemble - ?
• Best Director - Christopher Nolan, "Inception"
• Best Original Screenplay - Christopher Nolan, "Inception"
• Best Adapted Screenplay - Beaufoy and Boyle, "127 Hours"
• Best Cinematography - "127 Hours"/ "Inception"
• Best Art Direction - "Alice in Wonderland" (2nd choice - "Inception" or "Black Swan")
• Best Editing - "127 Hours" / "Inception"
• Best Costume Design - "Alice in Wonderland"
• Best Make-Up - "Alice in Wonderland"
• Best Visual Effects - "Inception" / "Alice in Wonderland" / "Deathly Hallows Pt. 1"
• Best Sound - "Inception"
• Best Animated Feature - "How to Train Your Dragon" / "Tangled"
• Best Action Movie - "Inception"
• Best Comedy - "Date Night"
• Best Picture Made for TV - "The Pacific"
• Best Foreign Language Film - "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
• Best Documentary Feature - "The Tillman Story" / "Waiting for Superman"
• Best Song - "If I Rise," from "127 Hours"
• Best Score - Hans Zimmer, "Inception"

Next up, my picks for the Golden Globes.