More PCA Nominees: Angelina Jolie’s Best Work?

Quick: what’s the last record – or download – you purchased? Do you remember ? Or was it so fast, such an insanely brief click that,  like me,  you have no idea what it was until your Apple iTunes iBill iStatement arrives online? This is what I’m thinking about today because I buy music all the time – I get lots and lots of it –  but it’s soooo darn easy that I don’t always remember what I’ve purchased.  Unlike childhood,  or those teenage years where the selection and procurement of music was a very complicated process indeed.  That could affect your mood and behavior all week. See, the Grammy nods are now out and Eminem, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Cee Lo, Lady Antebellum and Justin Bieber (among others) should be thrilled. Congrats to them all. Now, let’s say you knew nothing about the Grammys this year but someone came from another planet with some kind of gift card, tapped you on the shoulder,  and said  “quick, tell us what’s popular here so we can take it back to our planet…” Once you recovered from the whole being- tapped-by-an-alien thing, wouldn’t you  pretty much name those very acts as America’s current must-haves?  I certainly would.  But getting back to the actual buying part. Do you remember what a big deal it used to be to buy music? And not in a bad or complicated way – rather,  there was a time when buying music involved any number of laborious decisions based on what you wanted and what you needed. None of this 99c here or there that we have today – it was all about what you had to listen to right now and what could actually wait (because back then if you didn’t own it, you’d have to wait for it to be played on your favorite radio station). You had – when I was a kid at least – a certain amount to spend, maybe you got super-lucky with  a ten-dollar Sam Goody gift certificate which got you all of one album plus a “45”,  or perhaps you decided (in an early nod to the notion of less is more/variety is the spice of life) that rather than buy the LP.  you’d just opt for several 45s. Which you couldn’t even play on your siblings’ turntable until you had that special insert disc that affixed to the middle of the record.  (By the way, today’s poll will involve a People’s Choice Favorite Movie Actress Nominee –  but before too long I will be asking you about your first album purchases – always extremely telling, I believe). But congrats to the Grammy nominees and now let’s get back to the PCA’s  Favorite Movie Actresses. We’ve taken a peek at Jennifer Aniston. Then yesterday it was all about Katherine Heigl. So today, let’s move to our third fabulous leading lady, the irrepressible Angelina Jolie. Daughter of a Hollywood star (Jon Voight) and one half of perhaps Tinseltown’s (and France’s, and New Orleans’) most glamorous couple, Angelina shares six children with her equally famous partner, Brad Pitt. She is striking, chic, hyper-talented and not a little outspoken. (Or make that not afraid to stand by her convictions/ say almost anything). Plus, she’s as well-known for her Oscar,  Golden Globe and PCA-winning performances as she is for her tremendous humanitarian efforts and outreach initiatives.  Additionally, she’s both a powerful  dramatic leading lady and a billion-dollar-franchise-promoting-bona fide action star.  Which would be quite the winning combo these days even if she didn’t have The Tourist coming out costarring Johnny Depp – which I suspect we’ll all  run to see. I absolutely will. So now, voice your choice in today’s featured poll and tell us which of these Angelina Jolie films is your favorite:

1)    Changeling

2)    Lara Croft: Tomb Raider

3)    Mr. And Mrs. Smith

4)   Salt