I like Gary's fiction vignettes in the creative writing thread here. Also his anecdotes about living in France, and bumping into famous people and oddballs in his NYC years. He seems like a good and gracious soul, and was always welcoming of newbies.

One grandma lived to 94. She had a Mediterranean diet before it was called that. And didn't smoke. Works for me. I think the single most important factor in longevity, however, is not sitting. She walked everywhere.

On a more cheerful subject, Oscar noms are out. I was surprised that Pawel Pawilkowski was nominated for CW over Cooper for ASiB or Farrelly for GB. I saw Pawilkowski's earlier BFL winner I and found it a gorgeous snoozefest. Three of the five cinematographers are for foreign films, including the man who I continue to believe would be my father in law but for the restraining order, Caleb Deschanel for NLA (Woa in the original German). That's three of the BFL nominees with regular competitive nominations, which I suspect is a first. I had assumed R was the shoo in for BFL, but there seems to be support for CW and NLA. Anyway, I was happy to see the nomination for WaCTHS4W, and the nods for Zophres and the Coens.

For billy: CW = Cold War, ASiB = A Star is Born. GB = Driving Miss Shirley er, Green Book, BFL = Best Foreign Language. I = Ida. NLA = Never Look Away (Werk ohne Autor). R = Roma. WaCTHS4W = When a Cowboy Tades His Spurs for Wings. You are welcome. Barton made me do it.

I rather like "When a Cowboy Trades His Wings For Spurs," though I suspect the choice will be for "Shallow" and "The Place Where Lost Things Go." All three are good songs.

Are they only allowing one song per movie now? It's hard to imagine the other two songs being nominated over other songs from "A Star Is Born" and "Mary Poppins Returns."

RIP movie composer, Michel LeGrand. I love playing a couple of his movie songs on the piano - What are You Doing the Rest of Your Life, and The Windmills of Your Mind.