Nevermind the actual awards.  Am I going to have a red carpet extravaganza to look forward to?    Will there be a kaliedescopic parade of couture gowns sashaying into my living room anytime soon? (If you wear the 3D glasses, it really does seem as if they are walking into your living room).

The pre-awards show fashion circus is the real reason I watch the shows, and I'm preemptively depressed at the thought that there may not be a circus this year. 

How are the weekly magazines supposed to cope, without being able to post the comparative color-palette photo montage? 

 Are we going to miss another potentially stunning entrance like this?

 Where else am I supposed to get my Helen Mirren-fix? (LOVE her)

There won't be any photos of Jennifer Lopez with a fab hairdo, that I can spend hours in front of the mirror, knee deep in bobby pins and hairspray, attempting to duplicate.

 And Evangeline Lilly is typically the sole motivating factor in getting me on the treadmill.

 Although, to be honest, if I never see another stiff, tension-filled photo of this pair, I'd be okay.

 The Golden Globes are supposed to be fun!  Festive, shiny and happy!  And broadcast, for my viewing pleasure.

(Ed note: will continue to blame production studios, for not complying with writers' demands.  No Golden Globes AND still no new episodes of "The Office"?  You're killing me.)

Fridays are such a relief:  the workweek is finally over; the weekend stretches out ahead of you; you can Happy Hour with friends, and just unbutton that jacket, and breathe a sigh of relief. 

Or, even better, just throw on a comfy pair of undies, lie back and relax.  

Natalie Portman can't be satisfied merely being a gorgeous, well-respected, fabulous actress with a Harvard education, and a penchant for thoughtful film roles.  No.  She has to go above and beyond, and prove herself one of those integrity-heavy people, who practice what they preach.  Harumph.

Ms. Portman is a known humanitarian/environmentalist/vegan, who has recently partnered with Te Casan to collaborate on vegan/animal-friendly footwear.

"Dazzling, playful, elegant and free of animal products, each shoe exudes the starlet’s own personal style. All of Portman’s proceeds will be donated to the Nature Conservancy, a non profit that works tirelessly to protect ecologically fragile lands and bodies of water."

As this endeavour involves shoes, and lovely, chic ones at that, I am fully supportive.  But please don't try to take my cheeseburger away.

I adore shoes, and if fashionable alternatives to leather and suede are made readily available, I will be the first in line to buy them.  My Stella McCartneys actually say "vegetarian shoe" on the sole, which is perplexing as I didn't think shoes ate anything at all.  But I digress.  Provide me with a viable alternative, and I'll take baby steps - in the fabulous shoes - toward being more of a conscious consumer.

I told you I've switched to using flourescent lightbulbs, right?

You've all probably heard by now, Heath Ledger died yesterday.  As Golightly Girls are abysmal with the whole wallowing in sadness thing, we will go the preferred route, and remember Heath's better times, via his body of work.

He was on a Johnny Depp-like trajectory, starting his career with boppy, froofy teen stuff, and ending with a role that required Kabuki makeup (Heath plays The Joker in the upcoming Batman installation; similar look to Depp in Edward Scissorhands).  Had he kept going, we may have had the good fortune to see him in exciting pirate regalia, or singing the lead in a dark musical.  But as the world turns, we can at least remember these Faces of Heath:   

1)  10 Things I Hate About You - All scruffy and teen-angsty, with the hot Australian accent in full bloom.  Julia Stiles was powerless to resist him.

2)  The Patriot - I have to be honest, I didn't see this.  The Mel Gibson Sweeping Epic Thing had played itself out with Braveheart.  But I saw some trailers for The Patriot, and Heath looked like he held his own with his fellow Australian.  And after the whole drunk-driving arrest, we chose to forget that Heath was ever associated with that disaster.

3)  A Knight's Tale - I only watched snippets of this.  I was too annoyed with the Queen's wacky hairstyle, cheesy dialogue, and distracting rock 'n roll soundtrack.  Not even Heath in chainmail could convince me to watch the entire thing, but he looked fantastic, and absolutely believable as a Knight.

4)  Monster's Ball - He gave a phenomenal performance as the emotionally and physically abused son of Billy Bob Thornton.  And that was some good acting, because frankly, I'm pretty sure I could kick Billy Bob's ass.

5)  Brokeback Mountain - This is one of my absolute favorite movies.  Heath was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Oscar, and a whole mess of other awards, for his performance as Ennis.   And my viewing of the masterpiece was only slightly soured when *someone's* boyfriend yelled out "Those aren't pillows!" in the middle of the love scene.

6)  Casanova - The script was not good.  Heath was.

 This quote made me laugh:

"I never studied acting in Australia. I never had an empty stage and black pajamas to run around and express myself."

Since black is the color of mourning, and I do enjoy a good pair of pajamas, I will wear black pajamas in Heath's honor.

"Romancing the Stone" is one of my favorite movies.  Of All Time.  It is a movie that I own, and a movie that I can watch, at least once a week, until I'm dead.  The movie introduced me Cartagena, Columbia, mudslides, chained crocodiles and Danny de Vito driving a tiny car through tall fields of something, while smoking a cigar.

It also introduced me to Kathleen Turner, who I greatly admired for her ease with a machete, no-nonsense approach to treasure hunting, and ability to throw back some tequila.  I have seen most of her movies, favoring "The Man With Two Brains", and "Body Heat".

Kathleen has recently written, what sounds to be a fantastic "tell all" about her life, and doesn't hold back on the good stuff.

"Send Yourself Roses" dishes about Kathleen's "life, love and leading roles":

I love any book that has the potential to make a significant portion of Hollywood wince in anticipation.

William Hurt (co-star in Body Heat) -

"Working with Bill Hurt was - shall we say - enlightening. In those days, he was pretty wild. He drank a great deal and took a lot of recreational drugs - he loved those magic mushrooms. He loved women, too; I don't know how many he went through during filming."

Michael Douglas (Romancing the Stone, Jewel of the Nile, War of the Roses) -

"I hadn't known Michael (who was then estranged from his first wife, Diandra) before we started filming, but we bonded from the start and I soon found myself falling in love with him.

Being with him certainly helped me to portray my character's growing sexual awareness, though the romance ended when his wife decided she wanted him back."

Nicolas Cage (Peggy Sue Got Married)-

"...everything Francis (Ford Coppola) wanted him to do, he went against - to show that he wasn't under his uncle's wing. Which was ridiculous. Oh, that stupid voice of his and the fake teeth! Honestly, I cringe to think about it."

Burt Reynolds (Switching Channels)-

For whatever reason, the first thing Burt said to me was: 'I've never taken second billing to a woman.'"

Ugh.  Gross. 

Ms. Turner just tells it like it was, which takes...can I say "balls"?  Something she may have picked up from playing Chandler's drag-queen father on "Friends".

The book will be available on February 7.  Just in time for Valentine's Day!  Buy yourself "Send Yourself Roses".  Does that sound redundant? 

Daniel Craig is currently filming his second "Bond" movie.  If you still haven't seen "Casino Royale", run, don't walk to the video store.  Or add it to the #1 slot in your Netflix queue.  I am wary of gratuitous action films, but this one is fast-paced and exciting with a whole mess of plot twists and general intrigue.  We love intrigue.

 We also love gratuitous swimsuit scenes. 

HAPPY FRIDAY FROM THE GOLIGHTLY GIRLS! 

Josh Duhamel recently proposed to his girlfriend, Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson, and some of us took that news a little hard.  We then realized that we could still appreciate Josh for his fantastic body of work.

Or just for his fantastic body.

HAPPY FRIDAY FROM THE GOLIGHTLY GIRLS! 

I used to watch NYPD Blue, basically just to watch Henry Simmons.  It was a very well-written show, agreed, but it was on pretty late. 

I'd stay up late for this.

I don't recall this NYPD Blue episode, but it looks like he's coming to catch me with that net. 

HAPPY FRIDAY FROM THE GOLIGHTLY GIRLS! 

We hope Reese doesn't mind sharing.  She seems like our kind of girl, and her taste in men has improved radically in the past few years.

Sharing is nice on Fridays. 

Jake Gyllenhaal is also nice on Fridays.

HAPPY FRIDAY FROM THE GOLIGHTLY GIRLS! 

Dancing With The Stars is over for the time being, but Cameron Mathison's paso doble will forever remain burned into our subconscious.

Subconscious, regular conscious, whatever.  We're happy Cameron worked so hard on all those dances, as it helps with the fantasizing.

HAPPY FRIDAY FROM THE GOLIGHTLY GIRLS!