And the Oscar goes to…

[BridesmaidsMovie.com, TheHelpMovie.com]

If any of you out there follow me on Twitter (shameless plug), you may already know that I am rooting for The Help and Bridesmaids at this year’s Academy Awards. Finally! My cinematic taste has reached a level of maturity that’s worthy of Oscar praise.

Right..

To be perfectly honest, those are the only two nominated films I have seen. But that’s not to say that I didn’t absolutely love both of them. I’d venture to say they were actually the two best movies of 2011! And that’s really saying something because picking favorites is not my cup of tea. In fact, it usually stresses me out.

Kristen Wiig and Emma Stone are two of the most talented actresses to have stepped into the spotlight in recent years, and I’m confident that they’ll be around for many more to come. Wiig, a regular on Saturday Night Live, originally won me over a number of years ago as “Penelope,” SNL‘s relentless one-upper. If you haven’t seen any of her “Penelope” skits, I implore you to do so at your very earliest convenience. We all know a “Penelope” or two in our lives, and Wiig nails the role. She has continued to wow me (not to mention, send me into a fit of laughter) by playing real-life public figures including Michele Bachmann, Kathie Lee Gifford, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, and Suze Orman, among many others. Without a doubt, her role as Annie Walker, maid of honor to Lilian (played by her immensely talented and over-the-top hilarious fellow SNL cast member Maya Rudolph), solidified Wiig as a bona fide comedienne. As if she needed anything else to add to her already stacked resume, she even co-wrote the Bridesmaids screenplay! Raise your hand if you’re not yet the slightest bit impressed.. That’s what I thought.  And something tells me she’s still got a lot of funny up her sleeve. It will be interesting to see if she ever decides to tackle any serious roles. Frankly, I think I’ll be happy with whatever she chooses.

Speaking of hilarious actresses tackling serious roles, Emma Stone more than proved her range of talent as Skeeter Phelan in The Help. I first took notice of Stone when she starred alongside Anna Faris (another one of my favorites) in The House Bunny, but it wasn’t until her leading role in Easy A that I truly recognized her comedic flair. I’d hazard a guess that The Help’s casting director took quite a leap of faith with Stone, but she truly delivered — and then some! The film is incredibly moving; more than a few scenes brought me to tears, and I was also pleasantly surprised by a couple of scenes that were more on the humorous side. Of course, Stone couldn’t have done it alone — she was supported by a brilliantly gifted cast, which actually brings me to my next point.

Where do I stand when The Help and Bridesmaids are pitted against one another in the same category?

Fortunately, this only occurs in the nominee pool for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Octavia Spencer and Jessica Chastain are both nominated for their roles in The Help (playing Minny Jackson and Celia Foote, respectively), and Melissa McCarthy is nominated for her role as Megan, the groom’s sister, in Bridesmaids. All three actresses have a distinct comedic style, yet they are still fully capable of getting serious when the role calls for it.  However, the Oscar can only be awarded to one actress, and I’m betting on Spencer.  Her portrayal of Minny Jackson demonstrated her capacity as an actress to a greater degree than Chastain and McCarthy’s roles. Thus, I believe and predict that Octavia Spencer should and will walk away with the Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role on Sunday, February 26th.

In the mean time, I think I should check out some of the rest of the movies! Off the top of my head, I know I want to see The Descendants, My Week with Marilyn, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Iron Lady. Leave a comment, and let me know where I should begin (or if I’ve perhaps left out one of your nominated favorites)! Also, be on the lookout for an upcoming post about the Grammy Awards (a.k.a. my Superbowl).  My computer’s still being repaired, but hopefully I’ll have it back soon!

For a full list of Academy Award nominees, click here.

A taste of what’s to come

Hi! My name is Jamil, and I would like to personally welcome you to my new blog Jampacked!

It’s about time that I’ve dived into the blogging world. I mean, it is 2012 after all. Where have I been for the last decade or more, you may ask? Well, I began my foray into the realm of social media by dabbling with Live Journal, Xanga, and MySpace many years ago. As I’m sure you know, none of those really seemed to stand the test of time, so I naturally moved on to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn in addition to a slew of other social vehicles. But enough about that. I wouldn’t want to give you the false impression that I spent the last 10+ years solely on the internet. No, no — surely, I occupied my time elsewhere.

In fact, I spent the last three and a half years working toward my undergraduate degree at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. Having taken honors and AP classes in high school, I was able to graduate a semester early last December with a B.A. in public relations and a minor in sociology. I also held a few internships throughout my college career, one of which actually led to my current job as a project manager for a local marketing and web development company. That’s where I’ll be spending a great deal of my time for the next three and a half months while my GU friends finish up their degrees. At that point, my rental lease will be up, and my time in Spokane will come to an end. Of course, I’ll also be busy applying for jobs over the coming months. I have my heart set on Seattle (fun fact: the city of my birth), but I’m definitely keeping my options open with Portland (fun fact: the city I call “home”) in case my Emerald City dreams don’t become a reality right off the bat — we can’t all be blessed with Dorothy’s good fortune. And that pretty much brings us right up to speed — at least academically and professionally.

I’m going to pause right here to issue a disclaimer. The random nature of this post is very indicative of the kind of blog that mine is sure to become. As a fervent multitasker, I tend to have a lot on my mind at any given moment, so please excuse what may sometimes appear to be chaos. I promise I’ll try to keep it as coherent as possible, and with the exception of this one, I hope to focus on one topic per post (keyword: “hope”). Alright, glad I got that out of the way; now you can’t say I didn’t warn you.

I also spent a great deal of the last decade attending the concert tours of many of my favorite music artists. Now, I know that pop music doesn’t often get much “street cred” and is largely considered to be low-brow. To be honest, that doesn’t really matter to me. I grew up listening to the genre, and I absolutely love it. I’m not ashamed to admit that I am head over (metaphorical) heels obsessed with Lady Gaga and Britney Spears. I still love the Spice Girls — fingers crossed for a reunion — and I truly believe that Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry are very talented. And those are just a few of my favorites! Trust me when I tell you, I haven’t even gotten started. I actually recently rediscovered *NSYNC’s No Strings Attached, and it’s in my car right now. Let me tell you, that is one solid album if I’ve ever heard one. At this point, you might be wondering why I’m telling you all of this. To that, I ask you, “Do you remember the aforementioned disclaimer?” —- Ok, totally kidding. Sort of. I’m telling you about my love of my pop music because it has played such a large role throughout my childhood and adolescence, and it continues to do so today. I guess I should have just come right out with it from the start: you see, I’m addicted to pop culture through and through. I just tend to be more inclined toward the music scene at times, but I love my TV shows, movies, books, and everything in between, too! (If you continue to follow my blog — and bless your heart if you do — I’m sure you’ll learn more about my preferences within those mediums.) I often ask myself why I have this addiction. Some find it perplexing; others say it’s a waste of time and energy. Not surprisingly, I prefer to view it in a more positive light. When I really try to dig deep and figure out why I’m drawn toward it, I always come up with the same answer: it’s the sense of community that only popular culture can foster. It’s the sense of community that you feel when you’re driving in your car, singing along to the radio, and you know that so many other people are without a doubt singing along with you. The same can be said for a dance club or a concert when everybody knows the words, and your favorite artist is belting out lyrics that empower you to reject anything that’s ever stopped you from being exactly who you are, and you’ve never felt so alive in your entire life. It’s those conversations ‘at the water cooler’ about the movie that just hit theaters last weekend, the one that had you laughing out loud one minute and practically sobbing the next. It’s the comfort that you feel when you see a character to whom you can relate portrayed positively and confidently in a television show, and you immediately know that you’re not alone in the world and that it does get better. That is why I love pop culture.

This seems to be an appropriate ending place for today. It got a bit serious there for a moment, but I suppose that’s good for us every once in a while. Not to mention, I’ve blabbed on long enough. I hope you enjoyed my first post! I’ll be working on my second one asap, but my personal computer is currently out of commission while it’s being repaired. In the mean time, I’ll be blogging from friends’ computers or the ones on campus.

(I would also like to apologize for my overuse of parentheses and dashes — what can I say? I love them. See, there I go again!)

Until next time!

Jamil