Gary Oldman is one of the greatest actors in the movie fucking history. No, don’t argue. This is my blog. And it’s kind of, well, fact. He’s the only actor who can make me watch even the shittiest, crappiest movie out there (and sadly, there are many of the kind in his filmography). He’s so good he makes you believe acting makes sense, after all. He’s so good any post about him being good is pointless. And yet, he was never nominated for a major acting award (save for BAFTA).

… Till today.

Somehow – and I bet it was a tricky task – the Academy finally realized that Gary not having any nominations is a crime against art (and common sense). So, there he is. An Academy award nominee. Finally. It was about fucking time, I say.

Of course, we all know it’s not that simple. It’s Oscars we’re talking about. We all know how they work. His nomination for Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy is not really about his performance. It’s about finally recognizing the man who was snubbed so many times before. A great actor who wasn’t even nominated, even when he was supposed to be, and all because of some shitty reasons (including, but not limited to, politics). So don’t be fooled: this nomination isn’t about his last year’s performance.

But you know what? I don’t fucking care. It was about time, that’s all I’m saying. And no, I don’t think Oscars are that important. After Sandra Bullock winning one, it’s clear they don’t mean anything. Still, it IS considered the most important acting award, and I do think never nominating Gary Oldman was a crime and a disgrace. Also, I’m hoping that an Oscar nomination will finally bring him better roles.

But can he win? More about it later. So far, I’m glad they’ve finally nominated him.

I’m a fan of Tolkien’s work, but I was never crazy about The Hobbit. Not sure why. The way it was written… Something was lacking. It’s not that I don’t like stories for kids; I do. But I guess it was so ordinary, compared to LotR and other Tolkien’s work (and yes, I’ve read LotR first). I bet that when you grow up with The Hobbit and fall in love with it, it’s different, but for me… I’m not crazy about that book, and to be honest, I don’t remember much of it.

That’s why I don’t know how I feel about the upcoming movie, or its trailer. I’m one of those people who didn’t really like LotR movies. The novel is one of my favourite books, so the movie was disappointing: eye candy for sure, but Jackson simply failed to capture the spirit of the novel. Luckily, there was Howard’s Shore amazing score: certainly one of my favourite scores and the one that does capture the spirit of the book.

Since I don’t remember that much of The Hobbit, I can’t really say how annoying the trailer is when it comes to movie changes and illogical stuff (which bothered me in LotR). What I can say is that the movie seems a lot darker than the book. The book is a fun story about a hobbit’s adventure written for kids, while the trailer presents is as dark and epic. I guess this is intentional: you simply have to make it earth-shattering and epic to make people (particularly LotR movie fans) interested. And you don’t want to make it into a movie for kids. I get that. And it’s not that I wouldn’t like to see a bit darker take on this story. Still, it looks like this will be another Jackson’s adaptation of Tolkien that doesn’t capture the spirit of the story.

There are good things, though. I really like Martin Freeman as Bilbo. The man is born to be a Hobbit, much more than Elijah Wood ever was. I also think he’d make a great Bilbo. Which is important for the story: nothing sucks more than having an annoying protagonist. I can already tell who the new hotties will be: Richard Armitage (Thorin) and Aidan Turner (Kili)… Luckily, they are better than Orlando Bloom (who will reprise his role… I mean, wtf? His former teen fans are not in their mid-20s).

But despite not being that interested in the Hobbit adaptation, I must admit the trailer made me enthusiastic. Not sure why. It just seems like a movie I’d like to watch, and hopefully, Howard Shore will be there with some amazing music. I guess these movies just make you watch them, even if you cringe at movie changes, illogical stuff or Orlando Bloom.

I bet it will be a semi-crappy disappointing movie, beautiful from the outside but lacking from the inside, just like LotR movies were. But I am sure interested.

I wanted to write a clever post on why I don’t update so often. It’s not like I don’t have time for my site, and it’s not like I’m not interested in jefflion.net anymore. And it’s not like I don’t have ideas: I have tons of ideas.

I just… Can’t. It happens to me when I’m depressed, or anxious, or when I worry. I become so fucking unproductive in those situations. I also suffer from insomnia. I can’t sleep at night. I just can’t.

But to make this post somewhat positive, here are some post ideas:

- Race & yours truly (race blogs, racism, and what’s in it for me, because I’m white and I’m non-Westerner, so it’s not an issue that usually affects people in my part of the world. Unlike, you know, almost all the other issues you can think of).
- Movie reviews (I love doing movie reviews, and I don’t even care if a movie is new or not. I’ve been planning on doing a review for In Bruges for so long, and there are also some new films I’m interested in: new Sherlock Holmes or Tin Tin, or just some little independent movie I watched and loved).
- Stereotypes about Eastern Europeans (that are actually true).
- Novel writing (How to and How Not To)
- Vampires and the Balkans (and the way popular representations of vampires, based on stories about Dracula, were actually formed as cautionary tales about the wild Balkans, a dangerous region that can corrupt the West – yes, that’s right kids, there’s an ugly story behind this).

Anyway, this song always makes me feel better for some reason:

There’s a reason for not blogging so long. I’ve been busy with NaNoWriMo, first outlining and doing a research, and then writing. To be honest, I’m still busy, but I felt like ignoring this blog wasn’t the best idea.

So, I present you my NaNo novel, The Demise of the Elm Trees (it’s a working title but I like it).

This novel is special for a couple of reasons. This is the first time I write in English (and yes, I’m shit scared of it, thanks for asking). My level of language self-esteem is quite low to non-existent. But if I ever think to grow as a writer I need to learn now to do this, so NaNo seemed like a good opportunity to try.

It’s also the first time I write a YA (Young Adult) novel. Consciously, at least. I believe many of my early novels (those beautiful and embarrassing and amazing and face-palm and nostalgic teen efforts) were also YA, but I was unfamiliar with the label back then. Why YA? In part, because I’m a sucker for coming of age stories, and in part because YA doesn’t require complicated style or advanced English.

I’ll share more about the story later (if there are people interested to read about it), but for now, I present you the writing rules (or you could say it’s more of a process?) I set for my NaNo novel:

1. Write now, worry about grammar later. Try to record your thoughts on the electronic paper without worrying about the grammar structure, appropriate words and idioms, and especially not about that fucking thing called “past tenses in English language”. (Or the most evil aspect of them, the Present Perfect vs Past Perfect issue). Oh no, don’t worry about it now.

2. When first draft is finished, write a second one. Fix the plot, characters and stuff.

3. Check your information Do your research again. Check every single thing, from school policies, drama classes and copyright to pop cultural references and important events. Make sure everything is plausible.

4. Speaking of which, make sure it seems like 1994. Do a double check on slang (especially regional, including, but not limited to Seattle). Do a double check on technology. Fashion. Pop culture all over again. And then, slang one more time.

5. Fix your grammar the best you can. (There’s no point in doing this before the step 5 if you need to change your sentences and write new ones).

6. Grow a pair and ask a few unsuspecting victims beta readers to read it. They will have a demanding task of checking your story/writing, your information and your grammar, but that’s what friends are for, right?

My favourite song at the moment.

Not sure why. I mean, I like R.E.M. and I think they’re a quality band, but for some reason, I’ve never though much about them.

Unexpectedly, this song hit me two days ago and now I can’t stop plying it over and over (and over) again. That’s what I do, BTW: when I like I song, I put it on a repeat until everybody around me is sick of it. And if it’s a good song, it takes a while to get there.