The Gallery of Unfortunate Cards.

Listening to: Thievery Corporation.

Melanie blogs:
"Well, ladies and gentlemen, it looks like Sofia Coppola is one step closer to an Oscar nomination for only her second directorial effort, Lost in Translation. And this is very, very good, indeed. Let me explain. Today (1/6/04), Coppola was nominated by her peers in the Directors' Guild of America for their annual award. This is significant because the DGA and the Academy's directors' branch have overlapping members, and quite often their voting mirrors one another, not always, mind you, but close. Why does that matter in the first place? Because, ladies and gentlemen, in the entire history of the Academy Awards, there have been only two women nominated for Best Director: Lina Wertmuller (Seven Beauties, 1976), and Jane Campion (The Piano, 1993). Who can believe it's been a full ten years since Campion's nomination? In that time, such movies as Boys Don't Cry and Frida, both garnering major Oscar noms, have been directed by women (Kimberly Pierce and Julie Taymor, respectively), without a nibble from either the DGA or the guys in the Academy's directors' branch. Moreover, with Wertmuller being Italian and Campion being from New Zealand, there has never been an American woman nominated for Best Director. How can this be? Women like Randa Haines (Children of a Lesser God, 1986), Penny Marshall (Awakenings, 1990) and Barbra Streisand (The Prince of Tides, 1991) have directed Best Picture contenders without corresponding nominations specific to their field (though Streisand was nominated for the DGA award--so this could still go either way for Coppola). Do I think Coppola deserves an Oscar nomination on merit, or principle? Well, I certainly think the time has come for more equal representation, that's for sure (though to be fair, the DGA has recently been headed by none other than Martha Coolidge). My 10 year old niece recently made the astute observation that as long we continue to only elect men for president, for example, people will still think we all live in a man's world. And good for her. That's kind of how I feel. All that aside, I have to admit I've been rooting for Coppola for awhile. I thought she did a splendid job with her first feature The Virgin Suicides (a movie superior to the book on which it is based), and I loved some of the things she [Coppola] did with , one of the year's most visually arresting films--and I have to thank Coppola for taking us westerners on a journey to the neon jumble that is contemporary Tokyo. It's the uniqueness of the journey that makes Coppola's film significant, makes it worthy of Lost in Translationaward consideration. Even so, I feel the award is destined for Peter Jackson (of the Lord of the Rings trilogy), and that's perfectly fine too. Jackson's films are an amazing achievement...for now, Coppola's nomination will be more than sufficient (and like Campion before her, she will probably reap a statuette for Best Original Screenplay as a consolation prize). By the way, the DGA also nominated (besides Jackson and Coppola), Clint Eastwood (Mystic River), Gary Ross (Seabiscuit), and Peter Weir (Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World).

In other categories, I still believe at this point, Sean Penn is the Best Actor frontrunner for Mystic River, and that Charlize Theron (Monster) is the one to watch in the race for Best Actress, though nothing is set in stone just yet. Tim Robbins (Mystic River) has a great shot at Best Supporting Actor, while Renee Zellweger (Cold Mountain) is looking awful tempting for Best Supporting Actress. Of course, this is all speculation as it's still a few weeks before the Academy nominations are actually announced."

Homo sapiens declared extinct.