The 78th Golden Globes Awards airs tonight and, in case you weren’t aware, it’s trash and always has been. I even wrote a blog post last year calling the awarding body trash. First off, the awards are voted on by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), none of whom are members of the film industry nor critics. Secondly, the HFPA are known to take bribes and have their votes influenced. There’s just no prestigious aspect to this. When The Tourist got nominated for best film ten years ago (mind you, it received overwhelmingly negative reviews), or when drama-not-comedy The Martian got nominated for Best Comedy instead of Best Drama (because it’s easier for the film to win in the “less competitive” comedy category), you know something’s up. And more recently, the Golden Globes has been mired in controversies related to it relegating the Korean-American film Minari to the Best Foreign Language Film category, therefore barring it from competing in the Best Film categories, as well as the revelation that in the year of our lord 2021 none of the members of the HFPA are Black (as I’m writing this now, it’s been reported a Black member did apply in 2013 but got rejected). Anyway, I’m still gonna watch the show because my girls Tina Fey and Amy Poehler are co-hosting again, and the opening monologues by the show’s hosts are usually the only good parts of the show.
IT WAS THE LOPEZ’S ALL ALONG
Do you like the catchy and fun songs from WandaVision? Thank the talented multi-award-winning husband and wife songwriting duo Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez, who also wrote the iconic songs from Frozen, Frozen II, and Coco. Fun fact: Robert Lopez is the youngest EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) winner in history, and the only one to win each award twice! Another fun fact: Robert Lopez is Filipino. Asian excellence!
Check out this cool fan-made video showing how all of the songs in WandaVision use the same theme.
A RARE SIGHTING—TAYLOR SWIFT IS A FEATURED ARTIST ON A NEW SONG!
Last week, Haim released a remix of their song “Gasoline,” and it features a guest appearance by Taylor Swift! It’s pretty rare for Swift to be featured on songs so it’s always a nice surprise when it happens. One of my favorite (and unorthodox) features of hers was on rapper B.o.B’s song “Both of Us.” Give “Gasoline” a listen! I need to listen to more Haim music because I’ve heard they’re pretty good. And their latest album Women in Music Pt. III is competing at the next Grammy Awards for Album of the Year against Swift’s own folklore.
WHAT I WATCHED
I’ve been watching a lot of films lately, 15 in the last two weeks to be exact. I tend to be too lazy to watch foreign-language films even when I knew it meant missing out on some amazing films. Over the last two weeks I’ve been watching a lot more foreign-language films, specifically Asian ones, and they did not disappoint! I highly recommend checking out the Japanese film Shoplifters (streaming on Hulu) or Bong Joon-ho’s masterpiece Memories of Murder (rent on digital platforms), based on South Korea’s first serial killer. On another note, Netflix’s latest film I Care A Lot is a lot of fun! I loved Rosamund Pike in her iconic performance as Amy Dunne in Gone Girl, and her character in I Care A Lot is similar, not just in her bob and American accent, but also in a calculating, don’t-like-to-lose, villainous mode. I definitely expect to see the film top my list of best films of 2021 at the end of the year. And finally, the universally-acclaimed film from Chloé Zhao, Nomadland, has finally been released on Hulu. The film is expected to earn many Oscar noms this year, including Best Picture, and is one of the top two favorite films to win the top prize (the other film being, sighs, The Trial of the Chicago 7).
2/14: Dead Pigs; Crazy Rich Asians; Monsoon
2/15: Southside With You; Cinderella (1997)
2/16: Shoplifters
2/17: To All the Boys: Always and Forever
2/18: Paddington
2/19: WandaVision (Episode 7); Nomadland; Paddington 2
2/20: Memories of Murder
2/21: The Host (2006)
2/23: MTV’s Following: Bretman Rock (Episode 3); Life in a Day 2020
2/24: I’m Your Woman
2/25: WandaVision (Episode 8)
2/27: I Care A Lot
2019 SUMMER INTERNSHIP RECAP VIDEO
I spent the entire last weekend editing a recap video of the internship program I coordinated for my job two summers ago. It’s composed of footage taken from my interns’ phones and cameras. If you’re curious about why I talk so much about this internship program and my amazing interns, check out the recap video to see what we experienced! You can watch it here.
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