the good, the bad and the oscar noms

The Oscar(R) nominations were announced early this morning. My tradition is to record the live announcement on E! at 5:30a.m. and then watch when I wake up. Today's announcements -- viewed on TiVo at approximately 6:40a.m. -- were a little surprising...

• Good surprise: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close getting nominated for Best Picture! There seems to be a backlash going against this film because of their nomination today though. Apparently people don't think it is worthy. Or feel it was just produced as Oscar-bait that the Academy fell for. Whatever. It is a film with great performances that makes you really feel something. I loved it. 
• Bad surprise: The Tree of Life was also nominated for Best Picture. This means I now have to watch it. Ugh. Have not heard good things about it from anyone. And my head already hurts from day-to-day work crazy. I don't need my "entertainment" to strain it more. Oh, and btw, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 was NOT nominated for Best Picture. (But sadly, that wasn't a surprise.)
• Good surprise: Hugo -- my fave surprise of screener season -- leads all films with 11 nominations
• Bad surprise: Cars 2 and Golden Globe + PGA Winner The Adventures of TinTin did not get nominated for Best Animated Feature. Eek. 

The acting categories had a few snubs and a few surprises too, but overall, nothing shocking. And it's not like I'm going to complain about a category of noms that means more live coverage of George Clooney and Brad Pitt in tuxes. ;) 

my fave filmmaker's "face"

A pal posted this to Google+ back in December, but I just got around to reading my feed and found it. It's pretty fascinating. It's amazing what you see over and over again, and even love, but don't really think about until someone points it out to you.