Oscars 2020 Lin-Manuel’s Oscar Mission: Usnavi Awareness The following account of Block… let’s say six, of the Oscars, reads like one of those brain-teaser riddles in logic puzzles, where you have to extract one piece of verifiably true information and use it to determine the rest can or can’t be true. (I think it’s By Duana • Feb 10, 2020 11:39 am
Oscars 2020 Kristen Wiig & Maya Rudolph: Oscar Pirates You know what we never really talk about, even when we talk about it? Televised awards shows have a built-in power imbalance – and that’s why they work. The Academies, hosting the shows, know they need talented performers, amusing enough to hold the audience’s attention. And those performers – actors, By Duana • Feb 10, 2020 10:13 am
Outfit of the Week Ray Romano Is Hot: A Scientific Proof Two things have been constant during this awards season – Ray Romano appearing on the red carpet, and my friends mocking me for thinking Ray Romano is attractive. Oh, and actually there’s one more thing that’s been going on for weeks: Ray Romano actually being hot as hell. Exhibit By Duana • Feb 10, 2020 08:33 am
Oscars 2020 Natalie Portman’s Red Carpet Flex History would not claim me as a Natalie Portman fan – which is something I’ve often felt bad about, because I like the projects she does, but somewhere between her acting and her interviews, I’ve just decided she’s just not my particular cup of tea. However, it may By Duana • Feb 10, 2020 06:40 am
Oscars 2020 James Corden & Rebel Wilson: Oscars Interlopers Okay, I’m gonna go ahead and say it – I might be a convert to the ‘no host’ method, because it allows more room for more stuff. The musical performances happened more spontaneously, for the most part, which actually made the show more like a musical… which is maybe why By Duana • Feb 10, 2020 05:38 am
Oscars 2020 Billie Eilish: Oscar Music Meme It was impossible to miss Billie Eilish last night on the show, and I am currently pouring one out for all of you whose parents called or texted to ask, “Who’s the one with the green hair? It’s green at the roots!” I’m not one of Billie By Duana • Feb 10, 2020 05:03 am
Oscars 2020 How To Oscar, with your guide Bong Joon-ho Parasite was an exceptional movie, by which I mean it was a literal outlier. I don’t know anyone who saw it who didn’t like it, including those grumps at the Honest Oscar Ballot – it was an actual feat in filmmaking. Which is why it won Best Picture, even By Duana • Feb 10, 2020 04:18 am
Name Nerd Duana Names: Friday Feeling The Updates You know, I’m considering just running updates, because frankly, the letters make us all feel so good. I mean, this is the beauty of what we do, the search for the perfect name becomes the person, who then becomes the embodiment of everything we love about the name… it’ By Duana • Feb 07, 2020 03:32 pm
TV Updates Jerry’s Gonna Mat-Talk You Professionally Certain people around these parts have not finished watching Cheer, and I have chastised said people, who are named Lainey, about it for several weeks now. (Lainey: I have 20 mins left! It’s just that I got caught up in some BTS hysteria.) Luckily, she’s not a baby By Duana • Feb 07, 2020 02:41 pm
Name Nerd Duana Names: The Update Parade Continues… Update week continues, and part of the fun is getting to see that the fun tone in letters continues in the updates, like this one from the writer of Astounded/Euphoric/Blunt/True: DUANA! Sincerely thank you for your incredible response. If you are ever in Nebraska, or Ann Arbor By Duana • Feb 05, 2020 03:58 pm
Name Nerd Duana Names: The Week You’ve Been Waiting For! It’s finally here – the week of the Oscars is upon us, and the excitement is matched by the number of things to do that demand attention (even if none of those is, you know, wondering what actually might win what). So, welcome to Update Week! Lots of you ask By Duana • Feb 03, 2020 03:42 pm
Name Nerd Duana Names: Timely Arrival, Name Delayed We are having a really hard time naming our now 5-day-old daughter! Pressure from relatives and friends is on! When we had our elder daughter, we spent a lot of time compiling respective lists of names we liked, virtually none of which were to be found on both lists. We By Duana • Jan 31, 2020 03:55 pm
Name Nerd Duana Names: Shopping for… Quirky-Lite? Hi Duana, I’m desperate for your help. Having our fourth boy in a couple of weeks (that was our last chance of having a daughter ;)) and am stumped for a name! I’ve set my mind on a unique, original name to make him extra special as the fourth By Duana • Jan 27, 2020 03:46 pm
Name Nerd Duana Names: Names You Would Hear On ‘Call The Midwife’ Hi Duana, I have followed your column since the very beginning. We are less than three weeks away from meeting our baby boy and we have made zero progress in naming him. Our daughter, Mathilda, took a few days to name after she arrived, but at least we had a By Duana • Jan 24, 2020 03:50 pm
Show Your Work Podcast Show Your Work: On Brand With Brad – and with Beyoncé? The SAG Awards didn’t even used to be a thing. Do you remember this? They were industry-only and non-televised, like the Independent Spirit Awards, until super-recently. But now they’re such a factor they might be accurate predictors of the Oscars in a few weeks’ time… …and they have By Duana • Jan 22, 2020 03:40 pm
Name Nerd Duana Names: Newly In Name Need Dearest Duana, I’m writing to you in a panic as we thought we had a name for our second daughter and now we’re not so sure. Okay, totally not sure. Our first born is Margaret “Maggie” Claire (now 21 months). Margaret is in honor of my husband’s By Duana • Jan 20, 2020 04:44 pm
