Well, it's that time again. It's diarist awards time! I haven't looked at the nominees yet, beyond a perfunctory scan of the names listed.  I am happy to see a lot of relative "unknowns" make the finals; I often find new reads this way (I know, like I need new reads). It certainly looks like the committee had a lot of work to do. There must have been quite a large nominee pool this time around.

And as for me...  [Amusing, yet rude and morbid, comments deleted.]

(Blowjob face.) *

Okay, now that I've vented the last vestiges of sour grapes, let's move on to the contest. (I know, I'm still working on the prizes for the last contest. I'm such a slacker. But I am making them myself, so that's why it's taking a while.) The contest is, as always, a "pick the winners" contest. And as usual, hardly anybody will enter. So if you're thinking about it, please do go for it. Entering a random selection of names has won this contest before.

Just e-mail me with your choices. The deadline is Friday, after which my own picks will appear. Mood flap!* 

My sister has gained about ten pounds. (Oh no! She's up to a size 3 now. Whatever shall we do?) She started calling herself "Chubbers" and of course I jumped right on that. So my sister is now "the Chubbers" or "my little Chubbers".

Every time I call her Chubbers, I think of Schuyler Rummel-Hudson, aka the Chubbin.  I tried to explain the cuteness of the Chubbin to Abby by way of a "sad Schuyler" impression, coupled with a "crying Schuyler" impression. (The pictures are in this entry.) Abby thinks it's hilarious and keeps making me do "the Chubbin face". 

Rob, I know you're proud.

I resisted getting Sense and Sensibility.  It's one of my favorite movies, and it has a commentary track by Emma Thompson, and the excised kissing scene between Edward and Elinor. It's my first choice for a DVD, even though I already own it. However, I told Joan how much I want it, and I am hoping that she bought it for me with Candy's credit card. (One way or another, I will own it on Friday, even if I have to splurge on it for myself.) 

So to satisfy my Jane Austen fix, I got Emma. And to satisfy my "cool commentary" fix, I got Pecker (commentary by John Waters). These are two movies that I did not have on video and that I really wanted, so they were perfect choices.  And I watched them both this weekend, so now I want more movies. 

I am such a brat.

We went out on Friday night to play pool. (Strange activity for the night your grandmother dies, but what the hell.) While we were walking down the street to the pool hall, we had a quasi-celebrity sighting. I'm mentioning it mainly for Kim's benefit: it was Melissa from The Real World: Miami.

As for me, I hate The Real World: Miami. I hate every single person in that house except Cynthia. I hate Flora with a white hot passion. And I hate Miami.

But still. Kim might be interested.  

That reminds me (and don't even try to figure out how that reminds me, because you never will) that Christopher Guest's new movie is coming out soon.

Long time readers will know that one of my top five favorite movies ever is Waiting for Guffman. It's a largely improvisational mockumentary about a small town drama production, starring (and written by) Eugene Levy and Christopher Guest. There is nothing about this movie that I don't love. It's subtle and wonderful, and gets funnier each time you watch it, I swear to you.

Their next movie, with the same cast and in the same style, is about a dog show.  According to the Internet Movie Database, it's called Dogumentary. Everyone is coming back: Parker Posey and Catherine O'Hara, Fred Willard and Lewis Arquette, and of course Levy and Guest themselves. I guarantee that it will be absolutely hilarious, and I will make you all see it by sheer force of will.

And to top it all off, The Nightmare Before Christmas is being re- released this October. I'm in movie heaven.

However, I am also lonely. Things between Matt and I still feel strained, despite my efforts to reach out to him. And my pool of friends has dwindled alarmingly: Tim is in Vegas this week for a convention, and Matthew is in Detroit on location. 

Speaking of being on location, my uncle does construction for movies. He's done The Game and Twister, to name two... I know he's worked on a ton of stuff, and I just never pay attention to what he's working on at any given time. I asked him the other day, though, and he's going to Hawaii to work on the next Jurassic Park.  He's always doing the cool stuff.

My grandfather also built sets for movies, although at that time, he was under contract to a specific studio (20th Century Fox). He did 9 to 5, The Birds, On Golden Pond, and Hello, Dolly! (those are the ones that he has signed posters of in his garage). I've seen Hello, Dolly! about a million times, but I've never seen the other ones. What a bad granddaughter.

It's funny how many people in this town are connected with the industry. I mean, seriously, it's ridiculous. For instance, half the people I know were involved in making Terminator 2.  Charlotte's dad did transportation for it, and stunt drove one of the tractor-trailers in the big chase scene. My uncle built some of the sets for it, notably the big laboratory thingie. And it was actually filmed at my high school friend's house.  They put her family up in a hotel, remodeled the kitchen, and used it as the location of John Connor's house.  In an unusual move, they used both the interior and the exterior of her house. She also appears as an extra, walking by the video arcade early in the film. 

Um. Where was I going with that?

Actually, here's a really exciting bit of industry news. Lucy has almost been offered a job for nine months on a series. (She was working on Get Real, which got canceled.) She's up for that and also a job with MTV in New York. She's sort of deciding between the two. I'm really hoping she ends up taking the job on the series, so I can get scripts and autographs and visit her on set. Why, you ask?

Because the series is Angel.

And finally, I think I am going to go to New York after all. I have a lot of stuff to do in the next few weeks, but I think I can squeeze in a little vacation. 

New York friends: I'll keep you posted.

*Mood flap = Good luck. (I can't believe you forgot that already.)

Imagine being transported to a time and place where you only longed for one thing in the world, and then having that one thing granted. Whenever we get anything, we adults always want more. But a kid has a greater capacity for contentment. And so I stand by my definition of eternal bliss.

But come on, the New Kids?? What an embarrassing thing to admit.