the day my music died.

  (1940 - 2009)

ellie greenwich, one of pop music's greatest songwriters, died today at 68. she was responsible for a catalogue of music that i never knew possible from one person, including:

• "be my baby" / "baby, i love you" - the ronettes
• "leader of the pack" - the shangri-las
• "river deep, mountain high" - ike & tina turner
• "da doo ron ron" - the crystals
• "chapel of love" - the dixie cups
• "doo wah diddy diddy" - manfred mann
• "(today i met) the boy i'm gonna marry" - darlene love
• "he's got the power" - the exciters 

....and countless other classics.

can you believe 1 woman wrote and / or co-wrote all that?

in 1991, ellie was was inducted into the songwriter's hall of fame.

a musical of her life, leader of the pack, debuted in 1984 and was nominated for a tony award for best musical.

below are some of ellie's masterpieces.

rest in peace, girl.

summer reading.

go and read this book.

i just finished it.

it drags a bit at the end, but all in all a chillingly accurate portrayal of drug use in america as freelance writer david sheff chronicles his son's addiction to crystal meth.

phew.

so i have revealed the 90 greatest performances that never (yet should have) won an oscar. it is pretty exhausting, especially since anybody who reads this probably won't care what i think. i am going to put the top ten on hold until the commencement of the toronto international film festival (lame). in the meantime, take a look at this photo that i came across the other day whilst looking for things to complain about:

yeah. it is kim kardashian ("hooker/stripper/pole-dancer/amateur-porn star extraordinaire) working the robertson boulevard stroll in beverly hills, accosted by a bunch of screaming, crying, eternally appreciative 12-year old fans. 

immorality personified.

children are the future. 

#11. emily watson in breaking the waves

emily watson's role as bess mcneill ranks very high on this list. the highest ranking for an actor in a performance from the 1990's. and it more than deserves it place. bess mcneill is a character unlike any other: strange, simple, childlike -- as if she were an 8 year old barely living in a grown woman's body. lars von trier virtually plucked watson out of obscurity to tackle this role. it is near perfection, painfully beautiful. bess is completely dependent on her husband jan (stellan skarsgard), an oil rigger who is sent away to a platform in the middle of the sea. without jan, bess is incomprehensible and all she can do is pray for his return. when he is finally sent home, paralyzed in an onshore accident, bess blames herself. she is volatile, self destructive, catatonic. her reluctance to have sex with other men, an order given by jan who cannot have sex himself since his accident, results in a dizzying spiral into near-madness as she copes with her disintegrating marriage and the views of her calvinist community. arguably, one of the greatest performances in history, watson won just about every best actress award from critics and film festivals around the world. competing with brenda blethyn (for secrets and lies), who gave an equally powerful performance that year, the two stellar british actresses made 1996 a fantastic year for film.

*nominated for 1996 best actress oscar;

lost to frances mcdormand in fargo

greatest moment: see below

#12. david thewlis in naked

david thewlis is sensational as johnny, the streetwise philosopher who spends the majority of this film in a dizzying stupor, paranoid and drunk, assumedly suffering from undiagnosed medical afflictions, most likely schizophrenia. as we discover, johnny is equally a danger to others as he is to himself, even though his troubled soul comes off as endearing when he strikes up friendships with others miscreants he meets along his way (on the way to nowhere). a nihilist with a penchant for violence, johnny seeks refuge with an old girlfriend (the brilliant lesley sharp), seduces her roommate (the brilliant katrin cartlidge), and is forced in and out of the destitute streets of london. i don't know why i feel it worth mentioning, but brad pitt had said somewhere that this is his favorite performance of all time. don't let that discourage you. thewlis won the best actor award at the 1993 cannes film festival for his role. and should have absolutely been nominated for an oscar.

greatest moment: see below

#13. glenn close in fatal attraction

as the diabolical alex forrest, glenn close is iconic as an unhinged woman scorned, in adrian lyne's fatal attraction. playing her part with such conviction, she is fearsome and brutal -- every philandering husband's worst nightmare. at first, you fall in love with her. after she is rejected, you feel nothing but pity. when she is ignored, and results to boiling rabbits, you hate her. never has there been a time spent watching a film where i have so vocally cheered the death of a villain as when beth (the brilliant anne archer) shoots alex during the intense bathtub scene. close does what every good actor is supposed to: she believably takes you on a roller-coaster ride of emotions. close was nominated for five oscars during the 1980's; if ever she deserved one (and she definitely deserved at least one) , it was for playing alex.

 

*nominated for 1987 best actress oscar;

lost to cher in moonstruck

greatest moment: see below

#14. dennis hopper in blue velvet

as fucked up as david lynch gets, blue velvet is disturbing, confusing, magnificent -- all because of dennis hopper. as frank booth, the angry, foul-mouthed masochist who kidnaps a lounge singer's (isabella rossellini) husband  and holds him ransom in order to have his wife available for violent, sexual encounters. the performance that ultimately typecasted hopper as the ultimate crazy bad-guy, frank booth is probably the most interesting character in any of david lynch's films (except eraserhead), and was a huge surprise to many, considering the mediocre roles that hopper had in the 1970's. an all-round classic nowadays, blue velvet was nominated for an oscar for best director. even in a career-defining performance, hopper was not nominated.

greatest moment: see below

#15. deborah kerr in from here to eternity

as the neglected wife of captain holmes, deborah kerr is oscar-worthy -- and not just for the iconic beachside make-out session with sergeant warden (burt lancaster). karen is heartbreaking from her opening scene: a husband who is never around to give her the time and love she needs. when she finally finds it in milton, he can't become the man she needs him to be in order to receive a divorce from her husband, and she is left lonely once again. you wonder how a woman so beautiful never seems to get her way? this is clearly an exceptional portrayal of a real woman, not your typical hollywood fabrication. karen is supposed to be a detestable character, promiscuous and immoral, but i read her in a completely different way -- an excellent example of pitch-perfect acting. ms. kerr never won an academy award, despite six nominations throughout her immense career. she was given an honorary oscar in 1994. she died in 2007.

*nominated for 1953 best actress oscar;

lost to audrey hepburn in roman holiday 

greatest moment: it's lame, and she has many scenes of great dialogue, but this IS kerr's greatest moment

#16. angela lansbury in the manchurian candidate

one of the greatest villains in the history of cinema, angela lansbury as mrs. john iselin is spellbinding. you would never guess that she is only two years older than lawrence harvey, who plays her cowardly son raymond shaw, as lansbury still manages to draw intense emotions from her audience -- gripping, malicious and manipulative -- the quintessential and evil matriarch. always the bridesmaid, lansbury was nominated for three academy awards and has been nominated for nineteen emmy awards, no wins (she does have six golden globes and five tony awards). patty duke was excellent, but there is no plausible excuse for lansbury not winning an oscar for this film. 

*nominated for 1962 best supporting actress oscar;

lost to patty duke in the miracle worker

greatest moment: see below

#17. al pacino in the godfather part II

what bothered most people about al pacino not winning an oscar for his portrayal of don michael corleone was chiefly because of the actor who did win. art carney gave a very sweet and heartwarming performance in harry and tonto, and for the most part it was considered a sympathy vote. but i mean, come on. don michael fucking corleone. ironically, pacino would find himself, 18 years later, receiving the most obvious sympathy vote in oscar history, winning for the ridiculous scent of a woman in 1992. oscar rarely seems to get it right. anyway, i really don't need to tell you how great the godfather, part II was. or the godfather, part I for that matter (godfather, part III i will not watch. ever.) michael corleone is one of those rare characters that is brutal and evil and horrible, but you don't really hate him. the mark of an exceptional actor. and one of the greatest robberies in oscar history.

*nominated for 1974 best actor oscar; lost to art carney in harry and tonto

greatest moment: see below