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I wanted to pick three different award shows AND some older speeches as well, but the three below were the ones that I instantly thought of when I read that question, so I guess I have to go with gut instinct:
3) Daniel Day-Lewis winning the Best Actor Oscar for Lincoln (2013)
Heartfelt without being saccharine, funny without being over-the-top or too broad, and just a joy to watch. The win may have been a foregone conclusion but that just meant that he had lots of time to fine-tune it and get it just right, which he definitely did.
2) Sutton Foster winning the Best Actress in a Musical Tony for Anything Goes (2011)
I imagine if I watched the Tonys on a more consistent basis, I'd have been able to fill this list with stage-y awards. Because Broadway is a much smaller world than Hollywood, there's a larger sense of community so a reduced need for thank you lists. Instead, we get pure, unadulterated charm from the terrifically talented Sutton Foster, and an absolutely amazing ender when she thanks her dresser. (And no, I don't know what exactly a dresser does, but it sounds important!)
1) Meryl Streep winning the Best Actress Oscar for The Iron Lady (2012)
Joe Reid said:
"When they called my name, I had this feeling I could hear half of America going, 'Oh no. Come on, why? Her? Again?" That was Meryl's one concession towards humility as she accepted her third career Oscar trophy, for her performance in "The Iron Lady." Then, with a wave and her hand and a wry "whatever," she traded in humility for sincere gratitude. She had twenty-nine years of practice in between her second and third Oscars, and the wait paid off. She flipped the script and thanked her husband, Don, first rather than last, so he wouldn't get drowned out by the band. "Everything I value most in our lives, you've given me." Guys, I love the Gummer marriage so much, it scares me a bit. Too much. After a warm shout-out to her longtime makeup artist, Streep went on to reflect on her long and rewarding career, looking out into the crowd at all her friends, old (Glenn Close) and new (Viola Davis), here and departed. The best Oscar speeches transcend a mere reading of names and are instead celebrations of working in such a fun, creative artform. Meryl gets it and always has.
This quote from an article entitled The 12 Best Acceptance Speeches in Oscar History pretty much sums my feelings up perfectly, but what also gets me is that a lot of it was completely improvised. Though Meryl herself starts off her speech with a bit of self-deprication about how many awards she has won over the years, that one was something of a semi-surprise. So to come up with something THAT beautiful pretty much off the cuff is a tremendous achievement.
Phew. Now onto Evangelion!
Mr Cat Dog said:
I knew the last two episodes were controversial but wowzers! Not even a marathon of The Tree of Life and Melancholia (which, incidentally, was also about clinical depression) could prepare me for that double whammy of navel-gazing philosophical ********! And I normally LIKE navel-gazing philosophical ********... but the way it was done here almost made me regret watching the series...
Which would have been ridiculous, as the first three-quarters of it - the bits where the ******** Biblical/Freudian overtones weren't friggin' talking points amongst the characters and remained on the level of subtext - were really good. And surprising, too, as I never thought I'd be emotionally invested in 14-year-olds beating up aliens inside robots. But Evangelion worked its magic by focusing on the real lives of the pilots, and only resorting to robot fighting when necessary (and then making each one gripping and emotionally resonant in the grand scheme of things).
But then it goes and spoils it all by doing something stupid and reverts up its own ass and starts spouting God and Freud to anyone who will listen. And it did this even before the final two episodes (which I sorta admire for the balls-to-the-wall out-there approach that the creators did with it) so those who were pissed off just about the finale should re-evaluate their feelings towards the episodes immediately preceding it.
I wrote that in March last year after just finishing watching the entire run of the show (as well as lots of other anime that I was watching concurrently), and I still stand by it. Not that I've watched the show since, but, on the whole, I liked it. I had severe reservations about its ending, but what came before was so good that it was almost worth watching the whole thing for.
There are so many WALL-E moments that I absolutely adore: him clinging on the side of the shuttle en route to the Axiom and touching the asteroid belt; the sensory overload that is introduction to 'modern' life; the ending etc. But my absolute favourite moment is the opener. It was one of the few things about the film that I didn't know about before going in, and it absolutely floored me when I watched it for the first time. The juxtaposition of space and 'Put on Your Sunday Clothes' giving way to the decrepit and desolate Earth that we've left behind all those years in the future. And it still gets me every time I watch it nowadays, even though I know exactly what's coming.
And, to be honest, I probably wouldn't donate. Or, I might, but it'd probably be an impulse decision on my part. And it'd be the bare minimum in order to get a blog or something. 'Cause I'm not really that bothered about massive avatars or anything like that *shrug*.
Have you ever used a character as your avatar from a show that you hate? Or have you ever used a character that you didn't like? Those questions make sense right?
Yes, I could. And I shall! (Although it won't be the next one, unfortunately. After a brief period where I had no suggestions coming in, the waiting list is quite long, I'm afraid. It'll probably be around the beginning of July, at this rate.)
Have you ever used a character as your avatar from a show that you hate? Or have you ever used a character that you didn't like? Those questions make sense right?
See above. I haaaaaaaaaaated Rise of the Guardians and didn't think too much of the Easter Bunny, but I'm a slave to commitment when it comes to this little hobby of mine! There've been others in the past (mainly Power Rangers and Ed, Edd and Eddy, but they're normally few and far between. :D
