Wolmania - Friday, March 11, 2022

Good morning and welcome to another issue. The world may be falling apart around us, but I'm excited about today's items. So let's get started with what can only be described as... Victorian Christmas card stuff:

Item 1: a link

How Victorian Christmas cards got so beautifully odd.

Victorian England, our cultural memory tells us, was largely peopled with tragic orphans, prudish old maids, and gentlemen with stiff upper lips. We see staid figures in black-and-white photographs and conclude these were placid, dull, serious folk, enamored of discipline, self-control, and children who should be seen and not heard.

Victorian Christmas cards, however, tell a different story—one of people who relished playfulness, had an off-kilter sense of humor, and celebrated the season with exuberance rather than gravitas. Many of these originals are hilarious, but if we are willing to embrace them as more than just “weird,” images that strike a modern eye as outlandish can become a refreshing inspiration to real holiday joy.

Item 2: a list

Oscar Nominations, Predicted

Fearlessly planting my flag here. I haven’t seen all (or even most!) of the nominated films/performances, but I’m very confident in my predictions anyway. But I’m omitting short film because I haven’t seen any of them.

Bold = will win

Italics = should win

Italics* = should win, but none of these nominees is very good

Best Picture

• Belfast
• Coda
• Don’t Look Up
• Dune
• Licorice Pizza
• The Power Of The Dog
• Drive My Car
• King Richard
• Nightmare Alley
• West Side Story

Best Actor

• Javier Bardem, Being The Ricardos
• Benedict Cumberbatch, The Power Of The Dog
• Andrew Garfield, tick, tick...BOOM!
• Will Smith, King Richard*
• Denzel Washington, The Tragedy Of Macbeth

Best Actress

• Jessica Chastain, The Eyes Of Tammy Faye
• Olivia Colman, The Lost Daughter
• Penélope Cruz, Parallel Mothers
• Nicole Kidman, Being The Ricardos
• Kristen Stewart, Spencer

Best Supporting Actress

• Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter
• Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
• Judi Dench, Belfast
• Kirsten Dunst, The Power Of The Dog
• Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard

Best Supporting Actor

• Ciarán Hinds, Belfast
• Jesse Plemons, The Power Of The Dog
• Troy Kotsur, Coda
• J.K. Simmons, Being The Ricardos
• Kodi Smit-McPhee, The Power Of The Dog

Best Director

• Belfast, Kenneth Branagh
• Drive My Car, Ryusuke Hamaguchi
• Licorice Pizza, Paul Thomas Anderson
• The Power Of The Dog, Jane Campion
• West Side Story, Steven Spielberg

Best Adapted Screenplay

• Coda
• Dune
• Drive My Car
• The Lost Daughter
• The Power Of The Dog

Best Original Screenplay

• Belfast
• Don’t Look Up
• King Richard
• Licorice Pizza
• The Worst Person In The World

Best Animated Feature

• Encanto
• Flee
• Luca
• The Mitchells Vs. The Machines
• Raya And The Last Dragon
• Best International Feature
• Drive My Car
• Flee
• The Hand Of God
• Lunana: A Yak In The Classroom
• The Worst Person In The World

Best Original Score

• Don’t Look Up
• Dune
• Encanto
• Parallel Mothers
• The Power Of The Dog

Best Sound

• Belfast
• Dune
• No Time To Die
• The Power Of The Dog
• West Side Story

Costume Design

• Cruella
• Cyrano
• Dune
• Nightmare Alley
• West Side Story

Film Editing

• Don’t Look Up
• Dune
• King Richard
• The Power Of The Dog
• Tick, Tick... Boom!

Makeup & Hairstyling

• Coming To America
• Cruella
• Dune
• The Eyes Of Tammy Faye
• House Of Gucci

Original Song

• “Be Alive,” King Richard
• “Dos Oruguitas,” Encanto
• “Down To Joy,” Belfast
• “No Time To Die,” No Time To Die
• “Somehow You Do,” Four Good Days

Documentary Feature

• Ascension
• Attica
• Flee
• Summer Of Soul (... Or When The Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
• Writing With Fire

Visual Effects

• Dune
• Free Guy
• No Time To Die
• Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings
• Spider-Man: No Way Home

Cinematography

• Dune
• Nightmare Alley
• The Power Of The Dog
• The Tragedy Of Macbeth
• West Side Story

Production Design

• Dune
• Nightmare Alley
• The Power Of Dog
• The Tragedy Of Macbeth
• West Side Story

Item 3: a media recommendation

Break-Up

All of the segments from this 2007 episode of This American Life are pretty good, but I am perpetually thinking about the first act, which chronicles Starlee Kine’s effort to work through a tough break-up by writing her own break-up song. Great work - no notes!

Item 4: a photograph

See ya!

I feel like we're always talking about me. How are you doing? Let me know.

See you next week.