Live Blogging the 2013 Golden Globe awards with Connor

I always get pretty excited when it comes for the time of the year that the award shows start airing. I am an avid lover of many television series and movies, and it's a great thing to see the people who bring these things I love get the recognition that they deserve. And since this is the first year that I am running a blog while award season is going on, I figured why not, live blog the Golden Globe awards, and see where it goes from there.

I'm pulling for a lot of actors and actresses to get awards tonight, especially Jessica Lange, Maggie Smith, Anne Hathaway, Tommy Lee Jones and Ben Afleck. I am also having a crisis because both Amy Poehler and Tina Fey are nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series for Parks and Rec and 30 Rock. I love both of these wonderful comedians and both of these shows, which is making it hard to try and predict which will win, because I feel like both of them are brilliant.

Check back here throughout the night as I give updates and my own personal commentary on the awards as the night goes on!

6:28- finally tuning in to the red carpet special. I usually enjoy watching the interviews, however it's not the best part of the night! P.S. Daniel Day Lewis still looks a little bit like Abe Lincoln.

6:30- Adele appears on my screen and I think I just fell in love with her all over again.

6:33- Richard Gere will always be Billy Flynn in my life. Even with the white mane.

6:34- If Adele doesn't win Original Song I may set something on fire.

6:44- I swear if Hugh Jackman starts singing, I will drive to the awards right now and give him the award he deserves (hint: It's not a Golden Globe, it starts with P and rhymes with lunch.)

6:51- Sofia Vergara is amazing and beautiful. That is all.

7:00- Oh yay it's time for the awards show.

7:08- Tina and Amy are both brilliant. They gave a wonderful introduction for the night.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture: Christoph Waltz
I was hoping Leo would get this one, but it's the same movie I guess. OH WELL.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series, or Motion Picture Made for Television: Maggie Smith
I couldn't have been happier. Maggie Smith is an amazing and wonderful actress. Too bad she couldn't have been there tonight.

Best Mini-Series or TV Movie: Game Change
Not what I was pulling for, a little sad not to see Sigourney Weaver up there.

Best Actress in a Mini-Series or TV Movie: Julianne Moore
Why didn't it go to Jessica Lange? Because people make poor decisions.

Best Actor in a TV Series Drama: Damian Lewis
Just proof that I need to start watching Homeland.

Best TV Series Drama: Homeland
Once again, more proof that I need to start watching this show again.

Best Original Score: Mychael Danna
None of the awards I'm hoping for are coming through. About to give up on everything. At least this isn't the Oscars.

Best Original Song in a Motion Picture: Adele
Finally! Looks like I won't be burning anything in my town.

Best Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture made for TV: Kevin Costner
Benedict Cumberbatch would have been my first pick for Sherlock, but that's OK too, I guess.

Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture- Comedy or Musical: Jennifer Lawrence
Couldn't be happier! She is definitely a talented actress and deserves the award. Also can Will Farrell and Kristen Wiig host my life?

Best Supporting Actor in a TV Series, Mini-Series or TV Movie: Ed Harris
Just keep on rolling in the disappointments tonight. No, it's OK. I can take it.

Keep on trying Megan Fox...

Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture: Anne Hathaway
Holy cow, I couldn't be happier. Her performance as Fantine was stunning and she definitely deserves that award.

Best Screen Play for Motion Picture: Quentin Tarantino
I wasn't entirely surprised with this one. Just wish my pick had won.

Best Actor in a TV Series Comedy or Musical: Don Cheadle
I'm seriously about to give up on rooting for my picks. Nothing against Don Cheadle, he is a wonderful actor, but I was hoping for a 30 Rock win.

Best Foreign Film: Amour
We get it, you both have thick accents that make it impossible to understand you, the commentary wasn't that necessary. Unfortunately I was unable to see many foreign films this past year so I'm not entirely sure which was the most deserving for this category.

Best Actress for a TV Series- Drama: Claire Danes
Wait, did anyone else see Homeland winning!? But really, Claire is a wonderful actress, and I had no idea she was Temple Grandin in Temple Grandin! Which is a brilliant movie and she was marvelous as the title character.

Sacha Baron Cohen can host my life too as far as I'm concerned.

Best Animated Feature Film: Brave
Another point for Connor! I'm very excited that this was the winner, what a great movie!

Aziz Ansari is the best.

Best Actress in a TV Series Comedy or Musical: Lena Dunham
My heart has been broken yet again. How could Tina/Amy not get this! Oh well, good for Lena, congrats on the first time winner!

"Drunk" Amy and Tina are pretty funny, I was wondering where that would go. I can't believe Tina just made a Taylor Swift joke though! Maybe that will turn up in her next album.

Also Jodie Foster is awesome and she has been a great actress over the years. What a great person to win such an award. Can't wait to see where she goes from here.

Best Director of a Motion Picture: Ben Affleck
I was honestly quite surprised by this. I honestly thought that Tarantino or Lee would have won. But this is actually really exciting. Glad he got it.

I honestly feel like the cast of SNL is taking over this awards show. Can they do it for all other awards shows? This honestly doesn't feel like a bad thing.

Best TV series Comedy or Musical: Girls
I wish I had HBO so I could see what the hype about this show is. I was expecting Smash to win. Then I remember that it's HBO. The more nudity, the better the show, right?

Best Actor in a Motion Picture Comedy or Musical: Hugh Jackman.
I can only hope that he won this for his acting, because that was pretty great. The singing on the other hand, probably should have cost him the award.

Best Motion Picture- Comedy or Musical: Les Miserables
Can anyone say predictable in French? I really did enjoy the movie and I'm happy that it won, but I am an ardent Wes Anderson fan and I was really hoping for Moonrise Kingdom, even though I know it didn't stand a chance.

Best Actress in a Motion Picture Drama: Jessica Chastain
I am really excited to see Zero Dark Thirty and it's really exciting that she got this. I really am looking forward to seeing her performance now.

Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama: Daniel Day Lewis
And Lincoln takes the gold! I did enjoy this movie and I thought that Lewis gave a wonderful performance, as he has in the past. His portrayal of Lincoln was very well done.

Best Motion Picture Drama: Argo
Congrats to Ben and the cast of Argo! I am very excited that this won.

Well then! What an interesting night. While I walked away from this first of many award shows a little upset, I'm sure that with at least one of the many more that are on the horizon I won't be too upset. I was happy with some of the results but I still think the night could have gone a little bit better. We can't win all of them though.

And so concludes the Live Blogging of the Golden Globe Awards Show. Thanks for checking this blog, and following the updates. My next live blogging event will most likely be the Academy Awards, and on that note, good night!

Reading Challenge: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

I've finished the first book on my 2013 reading list, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson.

Courtesy of Google Images. 

I wasn't surprised that I would finish this book pretty quickly, due to the fact that I had started reading this on the 21 of December, well before I got the idea to start the reading list as a portion of my blog.

In total it took me two weeks to read Larsson's novel that has been filled with intrigue and twists and turns. These past few nights reading the book I've stayed up until around 4 in the morning reading, simply because I couldn't put the book down. I also wanted to finish this book quickly because I have been itching to watch the movie for a while now, but I have been waiting until I had read the book. 

But more of that later, here is my review of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson. 

This book follows Mikael Blomkvist, an investigative reporter who has recently been convicted of libel after he reported on a scandal that had to do with the CEO of one of Sweden's largest businesses. After this nasty debacle Blomkvist is approached by the wealthy captain of industry, Henrik Vanger, who asks Blomkvist to poke around his family and solve a 40-year-old mystery that still haunts him, the disappearance of his niece, Harriet Vanger. After some persuasion and a crazy amount of cash Blomkvist agrees and moves to the middle of nowhere to work on this mystery that seems impossible to solve. 

The other protagonist is Lisbeth Salander, who is a genius computer hacker working for a security company in Stockholm. She is originally hired to do the background check on Blomkvist, and eventually, much later in the book, is asked by Blomkvist to become his research assistant. The two characters work together and eventually solve the mystery surrounding the disappearance of Harriet Vanger. Uncovering the truth does come at an insane cost, and the plot twist and revelation of who was behind the disappearance of Harriet is one of the most exciting parts of the book. 

One of the main themes behind the book is violence against women, and how that is handle in Swedish society. And this book is not wanting of rape scenes, women being murdered and deplorable cases of women being quieted against their attackers. Larsson does a good job of highlighting rape culture in Sweden and how it plays such an important role in the book. Larsson even highlights some of the statistics surrounding violence toward women in Sweden. 

Overall, the book was enjoyable to read, however, I felt that it took too much time in getting into the mystery and the discovery of the clues that would lead Blomkvist and Salander to the discovery of the villain. The beginning is a little slow, and I felt like I had to push to get through to the part when Blomkvist actually starts working on the mystery. Once he starts discovering the clues, the book becomes much more exciting, which of course led to multiple nights of staying up til 2 or 3 reading quickly so I could discover what the next step in the mystery was. 

The book is not lacking for content, however. There are many twists and turns that the reader doesn't see coming and take the reader by surprise. When the villain is finally revealed and Blomkvist and Salander have their confrontation with the villain is the part of the book when the pages start to fly past because you're reading at hyper speed, totally engrossed in the story. Once the mystery is solved and the conflict is resolved, however, the book slows down a bit, as is to be expected. With a heart warming finale, the book comes to an end exactly how the reader would want it to end. 

While there is no lack for content in the book, I felt the writing style was a bit behind. Throughout the book, I felt as if I were actually reading a news article, with the way that Larsson approached the characters. This is understandable because Larsson had been a journalist, however, the style of prose gets jumbled and simplistic in many places throughout the novel. There were many times where I would have to go back and reread a paragraph because it had been written in a confusing way and I hadn't understood what was actually being said. Also, the novel is riddled with financial and technical jargon that I, being unversed in the world of finance and only somewhat versed in the tech world, had a difficulty following. 

All in all, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo was an exciting and entertaining read that will keep you up to the early hours of the morning. 

4 out of 5 stars. 

Now that that's out of the way, be on the lookout for my next reading challenge post, The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling!