louise on the left (coast)

Radiant Best-actress nominee Melissa Leo arrives at the Kodak Theater for Sunday's 81rst Annual Academy Awards. MSNBC ran a story about last night's neck and neck race for the Best Actress Oscar, which, as I predicted, could very well have gone to Melissa Leo. I really thought last night would end up being a long-shot, outsider win for both Rourke and Leo...And I kind of think all their fellow nominees, thought so, too. With votes split between Winslet, Streep, Leo could claim best actress prize By Courtney Hazlett The Scoop msnbc.com updated 1:29 p.m. PT, Sun., Feb. 22, 2009 "LOS ANGELES - The buzz about an Oscar upset in the Best Actress category is too great to ignore. Perhaps everyone just wants something new to talk about at this point, or maybe it’s true — “Frozen River” star Melissa Leo could walk away with 8-1/2 pounds of golden Academy love in her hand. One voting member of the Academy echoed sentiments I’ve heard several times this weekend. “

Clearly, this was a show that didn't seem so far fetched to a kid abruptly transplanted from New Orleans, to New England, who now lived in a cluttered little home across the street from a graveyard and abandoned church in Vermont. A place so rural and peculiar that kids skinny dipped at recess, or counted beans for math and some even smoking pot by 4th grade. A place where the Grown Ups lived for The Opera, or attending Bach organ recitals held in derelict barns, and would think nothing of driving hours down to New York City just to see anything starring an Original British Cast . This was a world were there were wild winter storms, and long, summer days where not even a plane over head could disturb the remote cool green of the summers days. A world where grave stones were places to play hide and seek, and no matter what time of day, the Grown Ups never missed even one cocktail party being thrown by Vermont's most glamorous Episcopalians. It was elegant, and eccentri