The 2013 Dundees: Our Alternative Oscars

Below are our winners for our alternative Oscars, the Dundees, where I pick out my favorite performances in film and TV of the last year.  Since Ryan Gosling and Michael Fassbender were pretty much absent this year in film, I don't have a whole lot of complaints about this year's Oscar snubs.  That being said, I was disappointed to see that the Academy somehow had more love for Les Misérables than P.T. Anderson's fabulous The Master.   Personally,  I'd rather watch grass grow than Les Miz, at least that wouldn't involve Russell Crowe trying to sing!

This has been a big year for comebacks, with everyone from Matthew McConaughey to Bradley Cooper turning in refreshingly good performances.  In this vein, I was thrilled to see Joaquin Phoenix nominated for his fantastic performance in The Master.  Sure, he'll probably lose out to Daniel Day-Lewis, but it's nice to see him back!

Without further ado, here are the winners:

Best Comedy:  Moonrise Kingdom.
This movie has a tinge of bittersweet, as all Wes Anderson movies do, but it is also one of the funniest movies of the year.  For a more in-depth look at the movie, check out this great post by fellow Media Corner blogger Danielle. 

Runner Up:  Damsels in Distress. It took me about a half hour or so to adjust to the offbeat-ness of this movie, but its over the top strangeness eventually won me over.  It's sort of like an upside down 80s college comedy.

Best (Anti-) Romantic Comedy:  Celeste and Jesse Forever.  This movie doesn't really count as a rom-com in the traditional sense, since it's about two people getting divorced. It does manage to be the right mix of funny and moody, and has an incredible cast including Rashida Jones, Andy Samberg and Chris Messina.  It's a great sleeper movie.

Most Enviable Wardrobe, Female Performance:  Megan Draper (Jessica Paré) on Mad Men.  I was so disappointed when she quit her job at Sterling Cooper Draper Price, because we'd no longer get to see her incredible 60s office chic outfits!

Flock of Seagulls Awards: Best Achievements in Hair and Grooming

After two years of doing the Beardys, I'm officially over beards.  I'm sick of talking about them.  I'm sick of seeing them.  I'm even over Ryan Gosling having one (scorpion jacket? okay, beard? no!).  So instead of awarding the bewhiskered this year, we will celebrate the weird and the wonderful world of hair in pop culture this year. 

I will, however, award a solo Beardy to Jason Segel for most disgusting facial hair in honor of his wispy mutton chops in the Five-Year Engagement...ew.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find a picture on the interwebs of Segel's chops, so here's my mock-up.  The real version is much more terrifying:

Now on to the Flock of Seagull's Hair Awards:

Best Hair Performance by a Group: The cast of Parks and Recreation.
Okay, I'm slightly biased.  Donna (played by Retta)  has more or less my exact haircut.  However, the rest of the Parks department has enviable hair too.  Pawnee must have some pretty good stylists!

Best Hair Performance by an actor:  Kit Harrington as Jon Snow from Game of Thrones.
So pretty, I'm jealous of his curls!

Best hair performance by an actress:  Connie Britton as Tami Taylor from Friday Night Lights.  Pretty much every woman in Hollywood has a good head of hair, but if I could only pick one to emulate, it would have to Mrs. Taylor's big, wavy blond coiffure. 

Best Bangs:  Hannah Simone as Cece on New Girl. 

Best Masterpiece Theatre hair performance by an actor:   Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes on Sherlock.
Besides solving crimes, playing violin and generally being a pain in the neck, Sherlock knows his way with a curling iron!

Best Masterpiece Theatre hair performance by an actress:  Laura Carmichael as Lady Edith Crawley on Downton Abbey. 
Sure, she might be the last Crawley sister to marry, but she has the coolest hair.  Spinster power!

Best Red Head: Christina Hendricks as Joan Holloway/ Harris on Mad Men.
Sorry Conan!

Most Red Heads in a single film:  The Help
Including Emma Stone, Jessica Chastain, Bryce Dallas Howard, Sissy Spacek, and Allison Janney.

Nicholas Sparks: Who Dies? The Lucky One Edition

  Disclaimer: It goes without saying, you shouldn't read this post if you haven't seen the movie and knowing the deceased party will ruin it for you.  Also, you probably shouldn't read it if you think The Notebook is one the most romantic books/ movies ever.   

Author Nicholas Sparks has another movie adaptation out (just in time for Mother's Day!).  I know what you're thinking- all of his plots are the same!  A couple falls in love, they hang out a lot on North Carolina beaches, kiss passionately in the rain, and at least one person dies.  But don't be so cynical.  The Lucky One is completely different!  It takes place in Louisiana not North Carolina!

Premise: The Lucky One follows hunky Marine Logan Thibault (Zach Efron), who finds a picture of a beautiful woman in the dirt while fighting in Iraq.  He plans on returning the picture to its owner, but it doesn't appear to have one.  However, Logan becomes extremely lucky after finding the picture- even surviving a deadly battle that killed two of his friends.  When his third tour of duty is over, he decides to track down the woman in the picture to thank her.  But once he meets the woman- a spunky, single mom named Beth (Taylor Schilling), he decides to romance her instead.  Because that isn't creepy at all! And then they probably hang out a lot on the beach and lock lips in the rain and all that other boring stuff that happens in Nicholas Sparks books. But let's get to the important question- who dies?  (Serious spoiler alerts after the jump!)

New York Public Library's "Mad Men" Reading List

If you are a dedicated fan of AMC's Mad Men (and I'm just going to assume that you are), you know that the characters frequently reference books and films specific to the show's 1960s milieu. One of the more notable examples would be Don Draper's  moving voice-over recitation of a poem by Frank O'Hara in the second season. But even the more casual glimpses of what books the characters are interested in can be revealing. Don's daughter, Sally, reads age-appropriate Nancy Drew mysteries. Bert Cooper, not surprisingly, extols the virtues of Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand's 1100-page love letter to the free market. The ladies of the secretarial pool whisper about Lady Chatterley's Lover, the genuinely racy D.H. Lawrence novel that was the subject of an influential obscenity trial in 1959. These are just a few of the many literary works that have been spotted on Mad Men. And, for that reason, we can thank the fine librarians at the New York Public Library for compiling a fairly extensive list of the books cited throughout the show's run. Needless to say, you can search our catalog for any of the titles that interest you.

The 'Mad Men' Reading List - New York Public Library

Emmy nominations: Did your favorites make the cut?

This morning the nominations were announced for the 2010 Emmys, which will air August 29th. Visit the official Emmy website to view all the nominations. I'm most happy to see Outstanding Actress/Actor nominations for Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler of Friday Night Lights. Unfortunately, the Popeater.com Facebook campaign to get Zach Gilford an Outstanding Guest Actor-Drama nomination for his work in the powerful episode "The Son" was not successful; at least "The Son" was nominated for its writing. FNL also was nominated for Outstanding Casting. I've shared my love for this show before in a DVD review, and I'll repeat myself here: if you are looking for a show that realistically portrays marriage, friendship, difficulties teenagers face today as they grow up, and teamwork, then watch Friday Night Lights. This is a show that captures human moments from its actors and is definitely one of the best hours of TV you can find today. Season 4 currently airs Friday nights at 7 PM on NBC. Lost received 13 nominations, including Outstanding Drama, Actor-Drama (Matthew Fox), Supporting Actor-Drama (Michael Emerson and Terry O'Quinn), Guest Actress-Drama (Elizabeth Mitchell), and Art Direction. The series finale, "The End," received nominations for Directing, Writing, Editing, Music Composition, Sound Editing, and Sound Mixing. Confused about what's happening on the Island? Not surprisingly, Mad Men received 17 nominations in total. The show received recognition for Jon Hamm (Actor-Drama), January Jones (Actress-Drama), John Slattery (Supporting Actor-Drama), Elisabeth Moss (Supporting Actress-Drama), and Robert Morse (Guest Actor-Drama), in addition to nominations for Writing, Directing, Casting, Cinematography, Costumes, Editing, Hairstyling, and Makeup.  True Blood, nominated for Outstanding Drama, didn't receive any acting nominations but did receive nods for Casting, Art Direction, Prosthetic Makeup, and Sound Editing.

Comedy categories and more snubs after the jump:

Mad Men marathons in July

Counting down the days until the 9 PM season 4 premiere of Mad Men on Sunday, July 25? In the next few weeks you can get your fix of Don, Betty, Pete, Peggy, Roger, and Joan when AMC airs their Mad Men marathons featuring episodes from seasons 1-3 that were selected by fans. Read more about which episodes will be airing here.

Season 1 marathon: Monday, July 5 at 7 PM
Season 2 marathon: Monday, July 12 at 7 PM
Season 3 marathon: Monday, July 19 at 7 PM

Don't have the cable channel AMC? No problem. You can catch up, or introduce yourself to this amazing show, on DVD. The library owns seasons 1-3 on DVD-- just click the link to place yourself on hold for a copy!
Season 1: Find it in the catalog!
Season 2: Find it in the catalog!
Season 3: Find it in the catalog!

What's on TV this summer

Back in the days of yore all we got on TV during the summer was rerun after rerun. Although we do still find reruns for many network shows, many channels show original programming during the summer. I'm most looking forward to season three of True Blood, Top Chef in Washington D.C., the fourth season of Mad Men, and the so-crazy-it's-hilarious Man v. Food. I've already gotten back into Friday Night Lights, where Coach Taylor is now at East Dillon High coaching the Lions, and So You Think You Can Dance, which is changing its format this year by having a Top 10 instead of a Top 20, and pairing the newcomers with all-stars from previous seasons. Since I tried to be as inclusive as possible with the shows airing original programming, my TV schedule chart is quite long, which means you'll have to click below to see the list. If there isn't a date listed next to the show title then it is already airing new episodes. And, of course, dates may change.

Waiting for Mad Men!

There's less than a week until the premiere of the third season of Mad Men on AMC (9 PM!).  One creative way to tide yourself over until then is to visit madmenyourself.com where you can create a Mad Men avatar for yourself to use on facebook, myspace, etc.  Or you can use your Mad Men scene as your desktop wallpaper.  Just to name a few of the options available: You can pick your hair color, nose shape, eyebrow shape, accessories, and outfit.  When I went through the options for accessories I chose a white handbag to go along with my blouse and skirt.  And a doughnut.