The 86th Academy Awards (The Oscars 2014 prediction)

Ok! First, I must start by saying that I like movies and I want to add this: I am so excited for this Sunday event: Yes! The Oscars!!!!! Of course! I cannot miss it at all! The Oscars will air on Sunday night on abc  March 2, 2014, 7e/4p.I am more than ready and you should be too! (smile) It's only once a year so let's watch it! Ellen DeGeneres will be hosting the event so I know it will be so much fun! She is really talented and always know how to make people laugh. She is the perfect host for the event!

Ellen DeGeneres

Why do I decide to write about this event? Simply because I like Arts in general which include movies and actors 'work. Yet, I have never written about it before now because I never thought it was important at that time. However, I realized that this year I should write about it because I felt so inspired to do so. It is something that I want to share with those who actually have the same passion (You like movies).
What is special about the Oscars? Well I think first, the Red Carpet Fashion of course. What ladies wear how they wear the gowns. Who wears it right and who looks gorgeous it is simply a combination of all of it. Second, the excitement of the actors who are going to be awarded for their hard work during the year. Third, the revelation of new actors such as Lupita Nyong'o that we did not know before "12 Years a Slave" even though she was already acting and producingsome movies. Those like Barkhad Abdi who are an example of the American dream coming from a simple life to suddenly be a lucky Academy award nominee. Then last, the performances during the ceremony.
People have already made prediction about potential winners for this Academy Award. Yet I must say most of the movies were good last year! I admit that movie like "The Wolf of Wall street" was really controversial and it was a subject of discussion on TV. Despite the fact that some scenes were really "too much" to my own opinion, I must say that I was impressed by the way the actors played their roles.

 

the movie trailer:

 Leonardo DiCaprio showed to his fans once again how talented he is. I am myself an admirer of his work through the years and his career as an actor and I think he deserves the Oscar this year. The fact is I am never fed up of his movies. I saw him played the "Great Gatsby" and many other movies he is a really good actor! I can tell how this man is so passionate  for his work and how easily he can embrace another personality in his roles. For me it's simply amazing!

the movie trailer:

Chiwetel Ejiofor did a great job in "12 Years a Slave". He took me back to that time where life was not happy and easy for Black people in America. He made us encounter the real character through his acting work. One could feel the emotion, the fear , the sadness he played that role as if he was himself Solomon Northup (the real person who wrote this story which was his own story) ...The desire to live instead of surviving was so strong in this man. You could feel all this emotion from the movie. I believe that Chiwetel also deserves the Oscar that's the reason why I believe that the Academy will not have an easy decision to make this year. The movie "12 Years a Slave" touched me a lot because It taught me a lot from life that we take for granted!
I don't know if you remember how Matthew McConaughey was transformed for the movie "Dallas Buyers Club". He literally lost so much weight people couldn't even recognize him. Yet it shows how passionate and professional these actors are! And that's the beauty of Acting.
Some people really liked the movie "Gravity" with George Clooney and Sandra Bullock. I personally didn't watch it because I am not a science and space person. I only read the headlines of the story, people reviews and some clips of the movie. People liked the pictures of the movie.

"Gravity"

My wish was to see the movies: "The Buttler" nominated but it didn't happen (Oprah Winfrey did a great job as well as Forest Whitaker). "Long walk for Freedom" with Idris Elba. From my personal point of view this movie was a really good movie. The message was strong and important for those who believe in freedom but maybe not enough to be nominated for the Academy Award. I also thought that the movie "42" would be nominated this year but unfortunately it didn't happen. I like the story of this movie it was simply about Jackie Robinson, a brave man, a national hero with a strong personality. This movie moved me so much and I really think that there were some lessons of life to take and learn from this movie. Ok! Now
 
Here are the 86th Academy Awards Nominees:
Best Picture:
American Hustle
Captain Phillips
Dallas Buyers Club
Gravity
Her
Nebraska
Philomena
12 Years a Slave
The Wolf of Wall Street

Best Actor in a Leading Role :

 Christian Bale (American Hustle)
Bruce Dern (Nebraska)
Leonardo DiCaprio (The Wolf of Wall Street)
Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years a Slave)
Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)

Movie trailer: "Nebraska"



Best Actress in a Leading Role:
Amy Adams (American Hustle)
Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)
Sandra Bullock (Gravity)
Judi Dench (Philomena)
Meryl Streep (August: Osage County)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role
Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips)
Bradley Cooper (American Hustle)
Michael Fassbender (12 Years a Slave)
Jonah Hill (The Wolf of Wall Street)
Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

Movie trailer: "American Hustle"

Best Actress in a Supporting Role 
 Sally Hawkins (Blue Jasmine)
Jennifer Lawrence (American Hustle)
Lupita Nyong'o (12 Years a Slave)
Julia Roberts (August: Osage County)
June Squibb (Nebraska)

Then, you have the other categories such as: The best Cinematography, the best costume and many others.
Some people predicted:
about the best actor in leading role, Leonardo DiCaprio (which will be his first Oscar) or Matthew McConaughey will be the winner. My choice will be Chiwetel Ejiofor and Leonardo dicaprio to win this category.
About the Best Actress as leading role, They said Sandra Bullock or Cate Blanchett or Meryl Streep. My choice is: Sandra Bullock and Meryl Streep to win this year.

"Captain Philips" movie trailer

"Dallas Buyer Club" movie trailer


For the Best Actor in a supporting role they said: Jonah Hill or Jared Leto. I agree with this prediction. About the Best Actress in a Supporting Role, they predicted: Jennifer Lawrence or Lupita Nyong'O or Julia Roberts. Once again for this category I agree with them.
About the Best pictures, they predicted: Gravity, 12 Years a Slave, Nebraska. I agree with two of them which are "Gravity" and "12 Years a Slave" but I think "The Wolf of Wall Street" can win as well.
I didn't watch all the movies last year but I can tell The actors are done an amazing work so for me, being a nominee is not bad at all it's a step toward more. However, I will be glad to see Lupita Nyong'O win.
About the red carpet fashion, I think I just do not have any prediction but so far Lupita Nyong'o has wowed us many times with her style, her pure, simple  and natural beauty in and out. I admit I am a big fan already not only for her performance and her style, but also for her personality. At the Golden Globe and last year Sandra Bullock wore really nice dresses I simply loved the style. I liked Julia Roberts' appearance at the Golden Globe awards this year, she looked fresh and beautiful. Usually Eva Longoria always come with something special and nice. Kerry Washington is the beauty as well I like her style so yes I know she will wear something special. Therefore, I cannot make any prediction about the fashion style or who will be dressed better than who. I think, I just want to be amazed once again and that's the beauty about the Oscars. I will post some of the pictures from websites tomorrow.
So let's see on Sunday the results and the entire ceremony. I will write a post about everything that captivated my attention also my thoughts and many other things. I think from today I decide to write the next Academy Awards.
If you have any comments about the movies which are nominated feel free to drop a comment below I will be glad to read it. Don't forget to tune in on time! Turn on your TV on abc channel. Don't forget the red carpet and simply Enjoy the Oscars!!

African Traditional Spa

   I thought about writing this post because I recently watched on a TV show a scene that reminded me of some childhood memories and precisely the spa concept. In that show two men were getting a traditional spa from I think a Pacific island's culture. The spa looked so much as the one "we", in my country (Gabon) has: The two men were taking a bath in the warm water and another man was pouring some water with a wreath of leaves on their heads and backs. This scene took me back to my childhood. My grand mother used to give me some traditional African spa to make me feel good and strengthen me because children could easily catch some germs in public places and so forth. Some little germs that could make them sick for few days. In order to create this strong organism and to make me recover of any tiredness of the week she would simply give me this nice spa some days in the month. This spa had two parts which were the bath and the massage. The massage session was a good physical and natural therapy.  

   Nowadays, the spa concept seems to be like something new that we discover on TV or magazines. Some of us experience it when we go on vacations or when we want to have fun! For others they take it because they can afford it and it is good business with all the marketing and advertisement around. For people who have a culture like mine, it is simply something that we used to do on a daily basis to invigorate children, women who just gave birth (this is another specific traditional spa) or adults in general.
      

     After watching this scene on TV, I suddenly realized that people have been doing some same rituals for years around some part of the world especially when it comes about health and beauty. Some cultures would simply have some similarities in the way they do things. For instance, when my sister went to Brunei, she told me that the way people welcome their guests was almost like "we" do in my cultural background. She quickly felt like being "at home" which was fascinating because we are from different continents. 
Back to the two guys who were taking the traditional spa: I was impressed because they were doing something that is related to my roots, the "who I am" and I felt so touched right away. When you live abroad and you see people doing something that reminds you of a cultural ritual or ceremony it simply moves you. My parent used to tell me that "we" used to give spa to children since the old days in my native culture. That is the reason why children were healthy and could do a lot of physical and domestic activities. At that times "modern medicine" was not a part of the culture. The mothers or grand mothers were doing this work to raise and give natural healthy cares to children. When thinking about these old days compared to nowadays, I feel like my people lost a lot by embracing and kind of putting on the side (even forgetting) our own culture, we tend to be medically weaker. Our life span in my country has literally reduced and it raises many concerns. I strongly believe that we should bring back some of our natural knowledge paired with modern medicine then, this condition will certainly be improved. It will probably be a challenge but still I think it worths the idea.

 Back to the traditional spa given by my grandmother, she would basically boil some water in a large cauldron with some special plants and barks of trees which had some natural virtues for human bodies . The water had a smell of this infusion of these natural elements. Then, after waiting for few hours so that this water would not be too hot, she bathes me with all of it and she also used a wreath of plants and leaves the same way the man was doing on TV pouring water on my face, my head and my back. She was gently singing children traditional songs in our native language to me and I liked it so much  you could tell how happy it made me feel! This warm water  (Not too warm) felt so good on my skin. I felt so refreshed after all that ritual. I understand today how important it was because it was not only a simple ritual to make me feel good but it was for my health in general. I do not recall being a person who easily got sick even today I can see the results.

   Then, once the bath was done, she would give me good and warm massage all over my body with a natural almond oil hand made in a traditional way. She would be massaging my entire body while she sings some nice songs to me again. It made me feel relaxed and invigorated. I wish I could go back to  these times because I realize today how important it is now. My mum used to say that massage gives nice body and a good skin. That always made me smile but now I understand that it was a whole concept behind this short statement. I also remember the story she told me about the lady who was scrubbing her daughter's skin with the sand and mud deposited on the river 'shore. It was not that common but it shows how people already knew a lot of beauty ideas. For instance, everywhere you will find the mud treatment in spa institutes and it is used the way the lady was doing to her daughter. Therefore I totally agree with the fact that nothing is new the only difference is the improved way of doing things.

 After reading this post do you think that there is a huge difference between the old traditional spa and the one that we see in hotels or resorts or the one shown on TV today? From my perspective, I do not see any huge differences only the fact that the environment and the place where it is done is more modernized. My grand mother was singing to me some songs while she was giving me the treatment. I notice that people listen to music to feel relaxed during spa session. I don't know a lot about the natural elements they use in the spa institutes however, I know that my grand mother was taking natural plants and barks of trees which had all the sap with all the virtues in. I believe that the results are the same in both cases maybe with some little differences. At least my grand mother 'spa was free! (smiling) It was just something that I wanted to share with you.
If you have any comments feel free to drop them below I will be glad to read them. Thank you! Videos of what we use for a traditional spa