The Oscar Predictions 2015!

The Oscars are coming closer (February 22, Sunday) and I have nearly seen all the films that are nominated. So it’s time to share my predictions. Here it comes,

Best Picture

Will Win: Boyhood

May Win: Birdman        

Should Win: Boyhood (Birdman was good but not good enough to win the “Best Picture” Oscar. Boyhood was a cinema experience and it was more touching. Boyhood deserves more.)

Best Director

Will Win: Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman)

May Win: Richard Linklater (Boyhood)

Should Win: Alejandro González Iñárritu (Definitely! He is a very good director and Birdman should be honored with this category. Additionally he already won the Directors Guild of America Award so actually I have no doubt.)

Best Actor in Leading Role

Will Win: Eddie Redmayne (The Theory Of Everything)   

May Win: Eddie Redmayne (There is no ‘may win’! He will win the Oscar, he deserves every inch of it and he already won every award so far.)

Should Win: Eddie Redmayne

Best Actress in Leading Role

Will Win: Julianne Moore (Still Alice)

May Win: Felicity Jones (The Theory of Everything)

Should Win: Julianne Moore (Actually here is also no ‘may win’. Moore also won every award and she needs a Oscar. She is a great actress and her performance in “Still Alice” was great too!)

Best Actor in Supporting Role

Will Win: J. K. Simmons (Whiplash)

May Win: Robert Duvall (The Judge)

Should Win: J. K. Simmons (I remember only the performance of Christopher Waltz in ‘Inglorious Basterds’ as impressive and as real as the performance of Simmons. Masterpiece performance! Just Perfect! )

Best Actress in Supporting Role

Will Win: Patricia Arquette (Boyhood)

May Win: Emma Stone (Birdman)          

Should Win: Patricia Arquette (The all nominees are good but Arquette needs the Oscar for this humble and minimalist performance.)

Best Original Screenplay

Will Win: The Grand Budapest Hotel

May Win: Birdman

Should Win: Birdman (Unfortunately I think that The Grand Budapest Hotel will win but it doesn’t deserve it. It is not a good movie, there is no originality in the scenario. Sorry but for me the weakest link of this year’s Oscars is definitely The Grand Budapest Hotel. If you want to see some colors, Tim Burton did much more better films with colors. Let’s not exaggerate!)

Best Adapted Screenplay

Will Win: Whiplash

May Win: The Theory of Everything

Should Win: The Theory of Everything (Even if I don’t know how Whiplash is adapted to the film, we all know that The Theory of Everything is a good adaptation. Stephan Hawking says it.)

Best Foreign Language Film

Will Win: Leviathan

May Win: Ida

Should Win: Ida (Actually I can’t say who should win because I only saw Ida but if Ida wins, it will be well-deserved.)

Best Original Score

Will Win: The Grand Budapest Hotel      

May Win: The Theory of Everything

Should Win: The Theory Of Everything (In this category all the composers are well-known and all of them did terrific jobs so it isn’t easy to decide. My heart says Johann Johannson with The Theory of Everything.)

Best Original Song

Will Win: Glory (Selma)

May Win: I’m not gonna miss you (Glen Campbell… I’ll be me)

Should Win: Glory

For the technical nominations I have some predictions but I can not say which film should win, cause I don’t have that knowledge to really question their judgement.

Achievement in Cinematography

Will Win: Birdman

May Win: The Grand Budapest Hotel

Achievement in Costume Design

Will Win: The Grand Budapest Hotel

May Win: Mr Turner

Achievement in Film Editing

Will Win: Whiplash

May Win: Boyhood

Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling

Will Win: The Grand Budapest Hotel

May Win: Foxcatcher

Achievement in Production Design

Will Win: The Grand Budapest Hotel

May Win: Mr Turner

Achievement in Sound Editing

Will Win: Birdman

May Win: The Hobbit : The Battle of Five Armies

Achievement in Sound Mixing

Will Win: Whiplash

May Win: Birdman

Achievement in Visual Effects

Will Win: Interstellar

May Win: Dawn of the Planet Apps

Lastly let’s come to the categories for which I have no idea who will win or who may win but for some of them I have some instincts about the winners: Best Documentary (The Salt of the Earth), Best Documentary Short Subject, Best Animated Film (How to Train Your Dragon 2), Best Live Action Short Film and Best Animated Short Film.

On February 22, I will be watching the Oscars ‘live’. I am sure it will be a lot of fun. Remember, this year’s host is Neil Patrick Harris so my expectations are really high about the fun factor of the ceremony and I will keep scores so that I can share with you how many of my predictions become reality.

Chocolate Mousse

Nobody can say this: “I don’t like chocolate mousse”. It is impossible! It is full of chocolate and that creamy taste can be even seductive at some point. Do you want to surprise your guest ( or just yourself J )  with an extremely delicious but a very easy and quickly-prepared dessert? Then you will try this recipe definitely. I used my friend’s recipe as baseline and did some little changes. It became semi-sweet, fruity and creamy. Here is the recipe.

Ingredients

·         180 gr milk chocolate ( quiet unusual but I gave the bitterness with another ingredient J )

·         55 gr butter

·         1 cup (40 ml) Vanilla espresso (I used 1 nespresso capsule of Vanilio, you can of course use standard espresso and add a 1 tsp of vanilla for flavor.)

·         20 ml milk

·         1 egg yolk

·         250 ml crème-fraiche

·         250 gr raspberries

·         Whipped cream

·         Grated chocolate

Methods

1.  Put the chocolate, butter, espresso and milk in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir it occasionally.
2.  Once the chocolate totally melted put the egg yolk and start to stir it immediately and fast so that egg yolk do not cook in the chocolate mix, if so you will see yellow egg particles in the mix and whole chocolate is ruined.
3.  After 2 - 3 minutes of constant stirring, put the bowl aside and let the chocolate mix cool down.
4.  Put the crème-fraiche in an another bowl and whip it till thickened (app 3 min). (if it is not thick enough, you will get a soft form which you don’t want.)
5. Add the chocolate mix into the thickened crème-fraiche and mix them very well.
6. Transfer the mousse into 4 - 6 bowls (according to the size of your bowls.)
7. Put them in the refrigerator for at least 1 – 2 hours.

Serving Tip: Here comes the fruity and more creamy part!

o   Chopped the raspberries (it can be also blueberries or blackberries.) into small pieces.

o   Put the chopped raspberries on the top of the mousse.

o   Top with the whipped cream and grated chocolate

Enjoy!

Hic kimseden bunu duyamazsiniz: “Ben cikolatali mousse sevmiyorum.” Imkansiz! Bir kere bu tatli neredeyse sadece ve sadece cikolatayla yapiliyor. Kim boyle bir tatliya hayir diyebilir ki?! Siz de benim gibi misafirlerinize (veya sadece kendinize J) ultra lezzetli ama bir o kadar da kolay bir tatli hazirlamak istiyorsaniz bunu kesinlikle denemelisiniz. Bir arkadasimdan aldigim tarifin uzerinde birkac degisiklik yaparak yari-tatli, meyvemsi, bol kremali cikolatali mousse hazirladim. Iste tarifi.

Malzemeler

• 180 gr sutlu cikolata (Normalde bitter cikolata kullanilir, fakat ben bitter tadini baska bir malzemeyle verdim.)
•  55 gr tereyagi
•  40 ml vanilya aromali espresso (1 nespresso Vanilio kapsulu kullandim ama siz ayni tad icin normal espresso ve 1 cay kasigi vanilya da kullanabilirsiniz.)
•   20 ml sut
•   1 yumurta sarisi
•   250 ml krema
•    250 gr frambuaz
•    Hazir krema
•    Cikolata parcalari

Yapilis

1. Cikolata, tereyagi, espresso ve sutu bir kaba koyup ara sira karistirarak benmari usulu eritin.
2. Cikolata tamamen eridikten sonra yumurta sarisini ekleyin ve hemen cirpma teliyle surekli ve seri halde karistirin. Eger karistirmazsaniz yumurta piser ve kucuk sari parcalar gormeye baslarsiniz ki bu butun cikolata karisiminiz cope gitmesi anlamina gelir.
3. Yaklasik 3 dakika karistirmanin sonunda cikolata karisimini sogumaya birakin.
4. Baska bi kaba kremayi koyun ve iyice sertlesene kadar cirpin. Kremanin sert olmasi onemli yoksa mousse formunu tutturamazsiniz, sulu olur.
5. Sertlesen kremaya cikolata karisimini ekleyin ve iyice karistirin.
6. Servis kaplarina paylastirin. (kaplarinizin buyuklugune gore  4 – 6 kap cikar.)
7. Buzdolabinda en az 1 – 2 saat sogumaya birakin.

Servis icin: Iste burasi meyvemsi ve bol kremali yapmak icin!

o   Frambuazlari kucuk parcalar halinde dograyin. (Frambuaz yerine yaban mersini ya da bogurtlen de kullanabilirsiniz.)

o   Kaplarin uzerinlerine uzerini kapatacak sekilde ekleyin.

o   Hazir kremayla susleyip uzerine cikolata parcalarini ekleyerek servis yapin.

Afiyet olsun!