FRIDAY FROTH...

My cup runneth over! What a busy couple of weeks for musing. Last week we had the President's State of the Union Speech which, I've dubbed the "purple speech", Apple introduced the iPad, and this week, Academy Award nominees were named.

THE OSCARS:

The good news is that one of my favorite movies of the year, The Hurt Locker, got nine nominations! I was worried about this movie because it came out so early in the year, which is usually a detriment come award season. Overcoming this hurdle speaks to just how good The Hurt Locker is. See it if you haven't, and see it again if you have--it's a complex character study worth a second look. I love that this action packed war movie was directed by a woman and that the star of the movie, Jeremy Renner, came out of nowhere to, pardon the pun, blow everyone away!

If you saw my last FRIDAY FROTH... you know what I think about Avatar so I will just note that the Academy voters declined to give writer/director James Cameron a nomination for original screenplay. Good; there was nothing original about Avatar's screenplay. Thank you Academy for not letting a zillion dollars completely cloud your judgment!

Other thoughts on Oscar:

I loved that Sandra Bullock got a Best Actress nomination because I just "plain ole like her" and, because my kids told me that she reminded them of me in Blindside. I'm am perfectly aware that this had more to do with her "strong" sense of herself (my kids might call it being bossy) and was probably not meant as a complement, but, she looked great in those tight skirts, so I'm going to take it as a compliment because delusion is so much easier than confrontation.

While I enjoyed Blindside, I'm a little miffed that it, and District 9, got a Best Picture nomination over The Hangover. Yes, The Hangover was a little crude but it was soooo funny, well crafted, clever, and the acting was great. Also, I liked Tom Ford's A Single Man more than the Coen brother's A Serious Man, because if you feel like killing yourself when you leave the theatre, you should at least know why! And, too bad Michelle Pfeiffer didn't get a nomination for Cheri--she was excellent as an aging courtesan. The same goes for Robert Downey, Jr.; his performance made Sherlock Holmes.

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THE SPEECH:

Last week's State of the Union Address was addressed in this blog on Tuesday in a quasi-serious fashion. And speaking of fashion....could you believe all of the purple in the house chamber? I had just bought a cute pair of purple pumps in St. Helena earlier in the day so imagine my delight when Nancy Pelosi showed up in a suit almost the exact color of my new shoes! Michelle Obama had on a dark purple-y dress looking very pretty. Homeland Security Director Janet Napolitano and ABC News correspondent Deborah Roberts both wore purple and the Messrs. Biden and Boehner both sported purple ties. As a friend pointed out, purple is a combination of blue and red; very non-partisan and we could use more of that. Neiman Marcus says blue is the "it" color for spring--Qmuse is betting on purple.

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THE iPAD:

Dear Mr. Jobs,

i am your biggest fan. i love everything i! i awoke last Wednesday heady with anticipation--you were unveiling a new iproduct. i went to my desk, i kissed my imac good morning and i logged on. i watched you unveil the iPad tablet.

"Oh," i said to myself as i watched. i was a little disappointed--i may have even cried a wee bit!

Mr. Jobs, i think we need to talk.

i have noticed two things: 1. The name iPad has received some criticism and even some laughs. it seems that the name makes some people think about feminine hygiene. Frankly, pads were my grandmother's generation and that generation still uses transistor radios, so i am afraid that the problem may be the lack of anything else to talk about regarding the iPad. 2. the iPad is being described as just a big iphone, and unless you are a big gamer, that's kinda what it is.

Here are some suggestions for the second generation iPad tablet from your humble igroupie: i want to be able to download books, magazines, newspapers and other reading materials and then not have to rely on any type of connection--i may be getting on a plane and you know how they feel about connections! i want to be able to highlight (via touch) passages from books, paragraphs from newspaper articles, or quotes from a blog, and then move them to a file so that I can refer to them at a later time. i also need to be able to make notes in the book or magazine. i would love for you to have a built-in dictionary so that i can point to a word, triple click and voila', the definition appears. i don't want to have to rely on the internet to look-up a word. i also need to be able to use the iPad as a word processor--i can use that great MobileMe to transfer what i write on my iPad to my computers.

i am sure that i will think of other things to make the iPad better and when i do, i will be sure to let you know.

Have a great iweekend Mr. Jobs

Warmly,

Qmuse