This was a good year for concerts. The past couple of years I just slacked with music. I made a goal for myself this year to get back into the music scene. Here is a list of the concerts and venues I went to .

Sisters of Mercy – House of Blues in Annaheim
Coachella Festival – Empire Polo Field in Indio, CA (see picture of line-up below)
Ministry & Revolting Cocks – House of Blues in Annaheim
Artic Monkeys & We Are Scientists – Wiltern
She Wants Revenge – Wiltern
Yes, I Killed Him – Lava Lounge
Nouvelle Vague – The Fonda Theatre
Massive Attack – The Hollywood Bowl
Beck – Element
Sonic Youth – Wiltern
Cake – Wiltern (Almost, I was had to miss this concert due to a cold)

Movies

This year I have seen 41 movies. It may be difficult to believe, but this has been a slow movie going year for me. Early 2007 I will have to cram in all of the Golden Globe and Oscar nominated movies. Good times! Here is a list of the movies I have seen. The * symbolizes the movies I particularly enjoyed.

King Kong*
Casanova
Match Point*
The Producers
The Matador*
Munich*
Tristram Shandy: A Cock & Bull Story*
Underworld: Evolution
Failure to Launch
V for Vendetta
Thank You For Smoking*
Poseidon
Da Vinci Code
Brick*
An Inconvenient Truth*
The Break-Up*
X-Men: The Last Stand
Lake House*
Click
Superman Returns
The Filth and the Fury
Pirates of the Caribbean II*
A Scanner Darkly*
The Devil Wears Prada
Clerks II * (Q & A with Kevin Smith afterwards)
My Super Ex-Girlfriend
Little Miss Sunshine*
Scoop
Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby*
Crank
Idiocracy*
The Last Kiss
Hollywoodland
Fearless*
Little Children*
The Departed*
The Queen*
Casino Royale
Stranger Than Fiction*
The Holiday*
The Illusionist*

Look for Part Three of my 2006 summary in a
couple of days.

Congratulations to Brokeback Mountain, Crash & Jon Stewart. Brokeback Mountain was the expected winner for most of the categories it was up for. However, it was a happy moment when Crash was the surprise winner for Best Picture. Both Brokeback and Crash were my favourite* movies of the year. Even though Jon Stewart had mixed reviews, I thought he was great. I hope he is invited back next year. Kudos to the show for trying to inject more humour* throughout the evening. That is a keeper. However, what was up with ALL the film montages? They can definitely lose those.

As for the fashions, I was very underwhelmed. Nothing stood out except Charlize and her parrot, oops, I mean bow. Everyone looked very nice and safe (= boring). If you missed the fashions, check out In Style, E! Online and the Oscar website.

By the way, the Oscar picture above is me holding the real thing, an actual Oscar. Let me tell you, those suckers are heavy! I never thought I would ever get my hands one. Oh yes, I have my ways!

*Favourite & Humour – Alexa, that was just for you (sorry y’all, it’s an inside joke).

My wonderful husband, Deutsch, made me a very special Valentine/Oscar dinner. The reason why it was also an Oscar dinner is due to our annual Oscar Challenge. The Challenge is simple. Before the Academy Awards, we both vote for a winner in each category. At the end of the show, we tally up the numbers and the person with the most predicted wins is the “Dinner Guest”. The person who has the least predicted wins is the “Host/Chef”. The Host is required to serve a several course meal with two rules: 1) Make dinner from scratch; 2) Prepare something that he/she has never attempted before. Unfortunately for Deutsch, he has been the Host more times than the Guest.

This year he out did himself with a fantastic African meal. The menu consisted of three courses. For the appetizer, he started with West African Peanut Soup.

It was so rich and flavourful. A perfect soup for a cold winter night. A meal on it’s own with a smooth blend of peanut butter, tomatoes and rice. He garnished it with some roasted peanuts, that gave it an additional texture. It’s a definite keeper.

For the entree, he prepared a terrific Marrakesh Vegetable Curry served on a bed of couscous.

This dish had so many wonderful vegetables: sweet potatoes, eggplant, bell peppers, spinach, zucchini and carrots. It was definitely colorful. It even had some odd (but great) ingredients like cinnamon, raisins and orange juice. He was worried about the success of this dish, but he shouldn’t have been. It was delicious!

His final dish was dessert, Eastern Africa’s Kashata.

It is described as something in between candy and cookie. I found it to be more similar to candy. In fact, I thought was very much like peanut brittle. It is a mixture of sugar, coconut, peanuts and cinnamon. Deutsch was most concerned with this dish, fearing that the final product was a total disaster. Obviously, he did not try it before he made his assumption. It was fantastic. A great little snack to tame that wild beast known as the Sweet Tooth Monster.

The final note is to my Valentine. Thank you for your wonderful gift. I am aware that you were fulfilling your Oscar Challenge duties, but I also know that all your love went into your meal for me. I am a very lucky girl. I love you. My only wish is that on March 5th (Oscar night), I am victorious once again. The challenge is on, baby!

As you have undoubtedly figured out, I am a huge movie awards fan. I totally dig those long, boring speeches and the long, beautiful dresses. Luckily, my husband, Deutsch is a fan as well. Actually, he would be ecstatic if the actors didn’t utter a word or if the fashion show was not televised, but he is a true movie buff. January is always a stressful time for us. It is our mission to to see ALL of the movies that are nominated. In reality, we never accomplish the entire mission, but we do give it our best. In order to squeeze in all the movies, we have to predict what movies may be nominated. Excellent resources to help us with our mission are Oscar Watch and Meta Critic.

Here is an example to show how serious we are with this mission. We have already seen four movies in 2006 and we are only nine days into the new year. I know what you are thinking. Yes, it is an expensive hobby. In our defense, we have an addiction. It is an illness (for you South Park fans). It is difficult to kick the habit. Plus, our lives are so damn boring it is one of our only forms of entertainment. This year we have shoveled money out to King Kong, Cassanova, Match Point and The Producers. Our must-see movie list still includes: Munich, Memoirs of a Geisha, and The Squid and the Whale.

I am extremely proud to announce that we are in the best shape ever to completing our mission! Of course, the flip side is that our addiction is spiraling out of control. At least Deutsch & I are in it together. I think some may call that enabling each other. Also, in the city of Rehab Clinics, I am not aware of one dedicated to helping Oscar season junkies. In conclusion, I hope to infect all of you with this entertaining disease. Remember, it’s the most wonderful time of the year. A final note, I am not too proud to accept donations to support our habit.

*Mrs. Henrietta Bloomberg is a fictional character created for the purposes of blogging about crap.