And The Oscar Goes To... #RB4U #Movies

And The Oscar Goes To...

Are you a movie fan? Each week, I go to a movie and then review it on the local radio station. Throughout the year, I see some amazing movies and some real duds. (I also eat a great deal of popcorn!) 

On February 24th, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) will present a gold trophy to the best of the best for 2018. This year is the 91st presentation of the Oscars. Can you believe they have been around for so long?

Whether you love movies or not, the Oscars is a sight to behold from the gorgeous gowns to the musical numbers. This year there won't be a host which hasn't happened in thirty years.

There are some amazing movies and actors up for awards this year. Here's the complete list of nominations:

Best Picture Black Panther – Kevin Feige BlacKkKlansman – Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Raymond Mansfield, Jordan Peele and Spike Lee Bohemian Rhapsody – Graham King The Favourite – Ceci Dempsey, Ed Guiney, Lee Magiday and Yorgos Lanthimos Green Book – Jim Burke, Charles B. Wessler, Brian Currie, Peter Farrelly and Nick Vallelonga Roma – Gabriela Rodriguez and Alfonso Cuarón A Star Is Born – Bill Gerber, Bradley Cooper and Lynette Howell Taylor Vice – Dede Gardner, Jeremy Kleiner, Adam McKay and Kevin J. Messick	Best Director Alfonso Cuarón – Roma Yorgos Lanthimos – The Favourite Spike Lee – BlacKkKlansman Adam McKay – Vice Paweł Pawlikowski – Cold War
Best Actor Christian Bale – Vice as Dick Cheney Bradley Cooper – A Star Is Born as Jackson "Jack" Maine Willem Dafoe – At Eternity's Gate as Vincent van Gogh Rami Malek – Bohemian Rhapsody as Freddie Mercury Viggo Mortensen – Green Book as Frank "Tony Lip" Vallelonga	Best Actress Yalitza Aparicio – Roma as Cleodegaria "Cleo" Gutiérrez Glenn Close – The Wife as Joan Castleman Olivia Colman – The Favourite as Anne, Queen of Great Britain Lady Gaga – A Star Is Born as Ally Maine Melissa McCarthy – Can You Ever Forgive Me? as Lee Israel
Best Supporting Actor Mahershala Ali – Green Book as Don Shirley Adam Driver – BlacKkKlansman as Philip "Flip" Zimmerman Sam Elliott – A Star Is Born as Bobby Maine Richard E. Grant – Can You Ever Forgive Me? as Jack Hock Sam Rockwell – Vice as George W. Bush	Best Supporting Actress Amy Adams – Vice as Lynne Cheney Marina de Tavira – Roma as Sofía Regina King – If Beale Street Could Talk as Sharon Rivers Emma Stone – The Favourite as Abigail Masham Rachel Weisz – The Favourite as Sarah Churchill
Best Original Screenplay The Favourite – Written by Deborah Davis and Tony McNamara First Reformed – Written by Paul Schrader Green Book – Written by Nick Vallelonga, Brian Currie and Peter Farrelly Roma – Written by Alfonso Cuarón Vice – Written by Adam McKay	Best Adapted Screenplay The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – Screenplay by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen, based on the short stories All Gold Canyon by Jack London, The Gal Who Got Rattled by Stewart Edward White, and short stories by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen BlacKkKlansman – Screenplay by Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee, based on the book Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth Can You Ever Forgive Me? – Screenplay by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty, based on the book by Lee Israel If Beale Street Could Talk – Screenplay by Barry Jenkins, based on the book by James Baldwin A Star Is Born – Screenplay by Eric Roth, Bradley Cooper & Will Fetters; based on the 1954 screenplay by Moss Hart and the 1976 screenplay by Joan Didion, John Gregory Dunne & Frank Pierson; based on a story by Robert Carson & William A. Wellman
Best Animated Feature Film Incredibles 2 – Brad Bird, John Walker and Nicole Paradis Grindle Isle of Dogs – Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson Mirai – Mamoru Hosoda and Yūichirō Saitō Ralph Breaks the Internet – Rich Moore, Phil Johnston and Clark Spencer Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse – Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey, Rodney Rothman, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller	Best Foreign Language Film Capernaum (Lebanon) in Arabic – Directed by Nadine Labaki Cold War (Poland) in Polish and French – Directed by Paweł Pawlikowski Never Look Away (Germany) in German – Directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck Roma (Mexico) in Spanish and Mixtec – Directed by Alfonso Cuarón Shoplifters (Japan) in Japanese – Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda
Best Documentary – Feature Free Solo – Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin, Evan Hayes and Shannon Dill Hale County This Morning, This Evening – RaMell Ross, Joslyn Barnes and Su Kim Minding the Gap – Bing Liu and Diane Quon Of Fathers and Sons – Talal Derki, Ansgar Frerich, Eva Kemme and Tobias N. Siebert RBG – Betsy West and Julie Cohen	Best Documentary – Short Subject Black Sheep – Ed Perkins and Jonathan Chinn End Game – Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman Lifeboat – Skye Fitzgerald and Bryn Mooser A Night at The Garden – Marshall Curry Period. End of Sentence. – Rayka Zehtabchi and Melissa Berton
Best Live Action Short Film Detainment – Vincent Lambe and Darren Mahon Fauve – Jérémy Comte and Maria Gracia Turgeon Marguerite – Marianne Farley and Marie-Hélène Panisset Mother – Rodrigo Sorogoyen and María del Puy Alvarado Skin – Guy Nattiv and Jaime Ray Newman	Best Animated Short Film Animal Behaviour – Alison Snowden and David Fine Bao – Domee Shi and Becky Neiman-Cobb Late Afternoon – Louise Bagnall and Nuria González Blanco One Small Step – Andrew Chesworth and Bobby Pontillas Weekends – Trevor Jimenez
Best Original Score Black Panther – Ludwig Göransson BlacKkKlansman – Terence Blanchard If Beale Street Could Talk – Nicholas Britell Isle of Dogs – Alexandre Desplat Mary Poppins Returns – Marc Shaiman	Best Original Song "All the Stars" from Black Panther – Music by Mark Spears, Kendrick Lamar Duckworth and Anthony Tiffith; Lyrics by Kendrick Lamar Duckworth, Anthony Tiffith and Solána Rowe "I'll Fight" from RBG – Music and Lyrics by Diane Warren "The Place Where Lost Things Go" from Mary Poppins Returns – Music by Marc Shaiman; Lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman "Shallow" from A Star Is Born – Music and Lyrics by Lady Gaga, Mark Ronson, Anthony Rossomando and Andrew Wyatt "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings" from The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – Music and Lyrics by David Rawlings and Gillian Welch
Best Sound Editing Black Panther – Benjamin A. Burtt and Steve Boeddeker Bohemian Rhapsody – John Warhurst and Nina Hartstone First Man – Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan A Quiet Place – Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl Roma – Sergio Díaz and Skip Lievsay	Best Sound Mixing Black Panther – Steve Boeddeker, Brandon Proctor and Peter J. Devlin Bohemian Rhapsody – Paul Massey, Tim Cavagin and John Casali First Man – Jon Taylor, Frank A. Montaño, Ai-Ling Lee and Mary H. Ellis Roma – Skip Lievsay, Craig Henighan and José Antonio Garcia A Star Is Born – Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic, Jason Ruder and Steve A. Morrow
Best Production Design Black Panther – Production Design: Hannah Beachler; Set Decoration: Jay Hart The Favourite – Production Design: Fiona Crombie; Set Decoration: Alice Felton First Man – Production Design: Nathan Crowley; Set Decoration: Kathy Lucas Mary Poppins Returns – Production Design: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim Roma – Production Design: Eugenio Caballero; Set Decoration: Bárbara Enrı́quez	Best Cinematography Cold War – Łukasz Żal The Favourite – Robbie Ryan Never Look Away – Caleb Deschanel Roma – Alfonso Cuarón A Star Is Born – Matthew Libatique
Best Makeup and Hairstyling Border – Göran Lundström and Pamela Goldammer Mary Queen of Scots – Jenny Shircore, Marc Pilcher and Jessica Brooks Vice – Greg Cannom, Kate Biscoe and Patricia Dehaney	Best Costume Design The Ballad of Buster Scruggs – Mary Zophres Black Panther – Ruth E. Carter The Favourite – Sandy Powell Mary Poppins Returns – Sandy Powell Mary Queen of Scots – Alexandra Byrne
Best Film Editing BlacKkKlansman – Barry Alexander Brown Bohemian Rhapsody – John Ottman The Favourite – Yorgos Mavropsaridis Green Book – Patrick J. Don Vito Vice – Hank Corwin	Best Visual Effects Avengers: Infinity War – Dan DeLeeuw, Kelly Port, Russell Earland Dan Sudick Christopher Robin – Christopher Lawrence, Michael Eames, Theo Jones and Chris Corbould First Man – Paul Lambert, Ian Hunter, Tristan Myles and J. D. Schwalm Ready Player One – Roger Guyett, Grady Cofer, Matthew E. Butler and David Shirk Solo: A Star Wars Story – Rob Bredow, Patrick Tubach, Neal Scanlan and Dominic Tuohy

I've seen many of the pictures up for best picture and have my own thoughts on what movies and actors will win. 

For best picture: The Favorite

Best Actor: Rami Malek

Best Actress: Glenn Close

Best Supporting Actor: Mahershala Ali

Best Supporting Actress: Regina King

Best Director: Spike Lee

You can check out my reviews of the movies I've seen on my website under Melissa's Morning After Movie Reviews. Or you can listen to my reviews on WHMI (I'm live on Monday mornings at 8:40 am).

It's fun to see if my guesses are correct. Do you have your own predictions? Which of the movies have you seen? Do you agree with the nominations? Were there any movies which were missing?

Schoolteacher, Melanie Whitman’s dating life is in shambles when her boyfriend and former boss dumps her. Her best friend arranges for Master Draikoh San, matchmaker extraordinaire, to provide her with a night to remember.

Breakout star of the third season of the reality TV show Laguna Nights Cole Hayes was burned by the limelight and started a family. After a messy divorce and looking to move back into the dating scene, he agrees to a one-night stand.

Can Cole and Melanie create a relationship that will last a lifetime, or will their one-night stand crash in the waves of Laguna Beach?

Available in ebook and print.

Amazon

Until next month,

Melissa 

www.melissakeir.com

Christmas Traditions - The Makings of a Wonderful Holiday Season

Every year, about this time, I ponder what makes the season special. I suspect a lot of people do that, so I’m not unique. But my perspective on the season is unique. As is yours. I’m not one of those people who looks to the past a lot. But this time of year seems to be the exception. For me, Scrooge-like, the magic of the season is enhanced by Christmas past. I move through my day with one part of my brain tied to fond, seasonal memories. The way the tree looked surrounded by all those pretty packages on Christmas morning when I was a kid; the memory of singing in the church choir at candlelight services when I got a little older; people we've lost along the way and past gifts given and received that were special…for whatever reason.

It’s hard to pinpoint why I love Christmas so much. Despite the rush of added tasks and projects, the extra work involved in getting or making gifts, the pull of emotion the season engenders, I can’t help feeling its magic. Maybe I like it so much because it brings out the best in me.

As a creative person, I think my perception of this time of year has been formed by creative things--baking, movies, music, books. Every year my daughters and I bake cookies to send to family across the country, just to let them know we're thinking about them. It's a special time in so many ways and I cherish every minute of it.

We also love going to Christmas themed movies. This year my hero and I are looking forward to the new Night at the Museum movie, which has become one of our favorite movie series, and the fact that they always release around Christmas time makes them a special part of our tradition. 

Every year I buy a new Christmas ornament and add it to my collection of treasured ornaments from family and friends, giving me a nice mix of old and new. And each Christmas I look for a new Christmas music CD. This year I bought a truly gorgeous mix of tunes from an outrageously talented A Cappella Band named Pentatonix:

Don't you just LOVE the Bass in this? Wow! 

In addition to my tradition of seeking out and surrounding myself with creative things at Christmas time, I always find myself inspired to write something having to do with Christmas. This year I wrote HoHo Honeybun, Book 5 in my Honeybun Fever romantic suspense series. If you're looking for a fun and fast paced book to get you in the Christmas/holiday spirit, this might be just the thing!

Happy Holidays, Everybody!

He just wants her to take life a little more seriously. She’s decided he could have a point. Especially now that somebody wants her dead.

Dolfe Honeybun broke up with Blaise Runa because her party girl ways were driving him to distraction. Unfortunately, out of sight does NOT mean out of mind. And when his favorite party girl sees something she shouldn’t and finds herself being chased by a cold blooded killer… reason shuts down and Dolfe’s heart takes over. If only he can get to her in time!

Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PWZ77Y0

Amazon.ca: http://www.amazon.ca/HOHO-Honeybun-Fever-Book-ebook/dp/B00PWZ77Y0

Amazon.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/HOHO-Honeybun-Fever-Book-ebook/dp/B00PWZ77Y0

Amazon.de: http://www.amazon.de/HOHO-Honeybun-Fever-Book-English-ebook/dp/B00PWZ77Y0

Amazon.au: http://www.amazon.com.au/HOHO-Honeybun-Fever-Book-ebook/dp/B00PWZ77Y0

Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hoho-honeybun-sam-cheever/1120803307

All Romance eBooks: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-hohohoneybun-1682895-149.html

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/494760