This special Friday edition of "To Dos Day" (which normally publishes on Tuesday) is offered as part of the "My Best Post Blogathon" instigated by elgringo over at He Shot Cyrus. Be sure to check out the miscellaneous bests over there throughout the weekend and, while you're here, consider some of StinkyLulu's best.___ Item 1: DEVOTE YOUR SUNDAYS TO THE BEST IN SUPPORTING ACTRESSNESS.
Perhaps the signature event here at StinkyLulu is a little devotional ceremony I conduct (most) every Sunday. For "Supporting Actress Sundays," I develop a detailed performance profile of a single nominated performance in the Academy Award category of Best Supporting Actress. In preparation, I screen the entire film, then I rescreen and time the performance itself, before passing through the performance a third time to capture screenshots. The result is a brief essay (long by blog standards) in which I offer a close reading of the actress, the role and the performance. It's my favorite thing to do here on StinkyLulu and, since March 2006, I've developed Supporting Actress Sunday profiles of more than 100 nominated performances. Among the best? Perhaps my writeup of 2007's Best Supporting Actress Tilda Swinton's performance in Michael Clayton. Or my discussion of the iconic yet controversial winning performance delivered by 1939's winner, Hattie McDaniel in Gone With The Wind. Or one of my own favorites, my workup of Maureen Stapleton's nominated twirl through 1978's Interiors. And, of course, I totally loved doing my profile of 2007 Razzie nominee Julia Ormond for that opus I Know Who Killed Me. I'm not sure that these are my "best" but they give a solid inkling as to what it is that I do here on StinkyLulu. (And if you want to delve into even more actressing at the edges, give a rummage through The Archive. Hours and hours of potential diversion.)
___ Item 2: GATHER FOR A SMACKDOWN.
My weekly Supporting Actress Sundays profiles are not developed at random. Indeed, most months I run a poll which invites readers to help select the subsequent month's roster of nominees for Supporting Actress Sundays. On the final Sunday of each month, a handful of Supporting Actress aficionados -- bloggers who have also (re)screened each of the five nominated performances -- toss their two bits in a virtual roundtable assessing the relative merits of each nominated performance. It's on often surprising hoot. Some of the best Smackdowns thus far? I think the Smackdown for 1990 ranks as one of the best ever, though I also really like what happened for 1950 and 1967 was pretty fun.
One of my favorite StinkyLulu features (which 2 or 3 readers also like) is a little thing I call "Homo Heritage Fridays" in which I rummage through old gay rags to unearth fabulous bits of material culture that we never knew we wanted. Often these are of the "foundation garment" variety, or of the "urban lifestyle" theme, or expressions of actressexuality. My favorites are those moments capturing an entrepeneurial verve to tap into everygay's crafty side, or decorative gusto, or holiday spirit. But best of all are those gifts for the gay who has everything. "Homo Heritage Fridays" is a labor of love for me and I'm going to keep on keeping on with it, goshdarnit.
This past winter, StinkyLulu took a little bit of a detour and did a weekly profile of a reality teevee program called "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew." As it turns out, StinkyLulu's weekly "5 Stinky Thoughts" proved to be one of the most popular features on this site, if we are to gauge such things by site traffic alone. I had a blast "doing" the series and plan to pick up again with season two. Some of my best installments? Episode 2 (when the basic formula of my write ups fell into focus) and Episode 8 (the "all Nurse Shelley all the time" episode).
As this post indicates, I love blogathons. I treat them like writing prompts, challenges even, to develop material according to the particular focus of the call. I've become a devoted participant in the ongoing "mini-blogathons" of Final Girl's Film Club and The Film Experience's Musical of the Month. But among some of my favorite blogathon inspired posts include my Supporting Actress Profile of Antonia Franceschi in 1980's Fame (for the Blog For Choice Blogathon). I also really liked doing my post on Querelle for the Queer Film Blogathon hosted by the dearly departed QTA, and my post for Bleeding Tree's Trashy Movie Blogathon on 1980's Crusing remains one of my most visited entries. And my summary posts on Precocious Supporting Actressness (for the Rugrats Blogathon) and on William Wyler's abiding devotion to Supporting Actressness have been exceedingly useful exercises. Obviously, I love blogathons and sometimes feel they bring out my best.
Truly the best part of doing StinkyLulu has been getting to know a host of blogfriends (some of whom have become "real world" friends) from all walks of life, of every cultural/cinematic obsession, from all over the world. I've loved being a virtual hostess. I've taken great joy (and, at times, great strength) from the cyberfriendships forged here in StinkyLulu-land. So I'd like to close this little bit of self-reflection by posing an invitation: please do consider joining the fun here at StinkyLulu. Volunteer to be a Smackdowner! Contribute a post to the Annual Supporting Actress Blogathon! Comment, comment, comment! Or just say hi! It's true that everything I do on StinkyLulu I do because I'm obsessed, but it wouldn't be the same without you, lovely reader. So, thanks. Getting to know you has truly been the best thing StinkyLulu's done.
Did I miss anything, lovelies?
2 comments:
We want Vivien Merchant! We want Vivien Merchant!
(love ya!)
Vivien Merchant is up.
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