I’m back from a week off!
Obviously, I didn’t go anywhere. Well, I mean, I went to the post office, but that only became an exciting field trip because I discovered that they had dinosaur stamps that shift into skeletons when you move them around, which is pretty cool, I think.
It is possible that the past year has lowered my standard for “exciting field trips.”
After our Easter morning service, I got caught up recording and uploading sermon audio files to the website, baked some cinnamon rolls, washed a bunch of dishes, and then slept for longer than I had since Maundy Thursday. Even though I’d written everything before Holy Week, I still did over a hundred hours of work between video editing, sound stuff, graphics, webpages, etc. over the course of the week. Last year’s Good Friday service that I did with Pastor Jackie from Marble United Methodist Church was the first video editing that I had done since high school. It turned out okay, all things considered, but I’m especially proud of this year’s service in contrast to it!
I spent most of my week off sleeping, cleaning, embroidering face masks, and watching films that have been nominated for this year’s Academy Awards. The Oscars (April 25 this year) are basically my Super Bowl and I take them very seriously. I created a comprehensive spreadsheet of all fifty-six film titles, how many awards they are up for, where they can be watched online, how many I’ve seen, and how many individual nominations that adds up to (most films are only nominated for one or two categories, but some fall under as many as ten). I’ve always been particularly invested in the costume, makeup/hairstyling, and production design categories, but this year, I’m much more interested in cinematography, film editing, and sound than I have been before. Every year, I print out a ballot and make predictions for the winners in each category; I usually get about 16/24 right. I’m still carrying resentment from 2017 that the delightful (if morbid) animated short “Garden Party” lost in its category to what I considered a rather vapid sports tribute. I refused to vote for best director in 2018 on principle because Patty Jenkins hadn’t even been nominated in that category for the phenomenal work she did on “Wonder Woman.” But gosh darn it, these feelings pale in comparison to the deep rage I hold in my soul that “For Sama” (which is easily the best and most engaging documentary film I have seen in my life) lost in its category to “American Factory.” I don’t usually have passionate feelings about documentaries, but I sure as heck did last year! I haven’t finished watching the films I plan to see this year yet, so I’ve only pencilled in my votes for three categories*, but if you have any interest in any of this year’s nominees, I’d love to talk film with you.
I have a bunch more face masks sketched out or in various states of progress, but here are pictures of one with black lace butterfly appliques, a purple one with a rhinestone roughly over my real nose ring, a brown one with a sunflower that took more than four skeins of embroidery floss and many hours of French knots, and a grey one with hanging jasmine vines (one of my favorite flowers and also favorite scents).
*Do my votes count for anything? Well, no…the Academy has never sought me out as a member, so it’s all recreational. We all have our hobbies!