Tuesday, in which WMM celebrates Daniel Day-Lewis, wonders: where is critical thought and thinks of that other great British dish, Nigella Lawson.

Oh yesterday was deep, today we must leave my mid-life crisis aside and ponder other issues, most specifically the two thoughts that I am left to ponder in the wake of Sunday night's Oscars, neither of which are related to fashion.  Lest you consider critical thought fashion. Oh that it would be fashionable again!

1) Daniel Day Lewis as genius.

You may or may not have liked Lincoln, though I happened to have liked it very much as you know.  But you would be hard pressed to convince me that Daniel Day Lewis did not deserve his third Best Actor Academy Award for his performance in the film.  Such petitions against Mr. Day-Lewis must be accompanied by powerpoint presentations, testimonials by all of your friends and neighbours, type-written and cross-checked against all academic literature related to acting.   There are few geniuses in any field; for DDL to receive his oscar from Meryl Streep appeared not dissimilar to me than if Adele had received her oscar from Judy Garland, back fresh from the grave and ready to appear on Broadway in next year's revival of Les Miserables. 

I was reminded, after watching Lincoln and having that performance stay with me for days afterwards, of a lifetime achievement award show I watched in the late 1970s saluting one of my all-time favourites, Fred Astaire.  Mikhail Barishnykov, then the darling defector and Lord of the Dance, stood up to pay tribute:  "I am a dancer." he said modestly, "I have no idea what Fred Astair is doing."  I wonder sometimes if some of the other actors of his generation, save a very few (like the perenially gifted and frustrating Sean Penn), wonder the same about DDL.  They are acting - what the HELL is he doing? 

Which leads me to my second thought:

2) In almost all instances the entertainment media are idiots.  After his significant win, Daniel Day Lewis was backstage giving interviews to the gathered press.  One particularly idiotic reporter had, for want of  a better word, the assinine audacity to ask him if the beard had proven a challenge to "act through".  The look of shock on DDL's face was priceless.  First: it was clear that the reporter did not understand that the beard in the movie was Day-Lewis' own, and secondly, felt that such a prosthetic might have in some way encumbered the ability to act.  Day-Lewis was gracious, though his disbelief was apparent, and it struck me again how torturous it must be for some of these top-drawer actors and actresses, forced to be interviewed by individuals who a) know nothing about the history or art of film-making and b) who treat  actors of the calibre of Day-Lewis as if they are simply another Housewife of Beverly Hills.  Yes, I imagine that a beard might be difficult for one of them to act with...  That the entertainment media have bred like rabid rabbits says more about us as a society then about them; their moguls are simply P.T. Barnums, giving the public what it wants and deserves.

 I don't watch much TV, but I can't help but feel we are all the worse for having no one, at least in the mainstream media, asking DDL the questions I most want to know the answer to: 1) what the Hell is he doing? and 2) how was he so fortunate to have landed a wife who appears to be both elegant and real all at the same time.

One can't help but know that Mr. Day-Lewis has not watched a lot of North American television and is all the better for it, IMO.

Would the North American public stand to listen to a really interested and well-versed journalist ask thought-provoking questions?  I think they would.  And they might enrich the viewing experience of the public watching these movies and television shows.  Or maybe not.  But smart, thought-provoking and entertaining movies continue to be made.  I just wish that there would be some interesting questions asked about them when hundreds of millions of people are watching.  Instead, we get to watch mani-cams and fashion reports..
 
And that, dear friends, is my rant of the day!!!

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On a completely different topic, one of my good friends gave me a copy of Nigella Lawson's new cookbook Nigellissima.

Oh Nigella.   My dear husband thinks Nigella is quite a dish, what with the ample bosom, the voluptuous curves, the delicious sighs as she licks the spoons...

I read an article today by the Associated Press about how novel that Nigella freely speaks her mind, will not allow her curves to be lessened by book editors and photographers and marvel-upon-marvel to the AP, not only knows who Bertrand Russell is, but refers to him at the beginning of her cook book.

Nigella is by no means overly large.  I think she only looks that way because we are so used to seeing poor girls starved half to death (at least 6 actresses on the red carpet Sunday night commented about how hungry they were).

I have not cooked out of this book yet, but based on my experience with her other books, I expect to like the recipes and find them easy to follow.  I have been a fan of Nigella's for quite awhile, albeit for very different reasons than my husband's reasons for loving her.  For me, my love of Nigella was forged by good recipies, but cemented when I saw this picture of her in her library.

 

I don't know if it still looks like that, but I want to go to there!

So happy Tuesday all and stay safe out there!