Hoo-ray for Hollywood!

Well, this should be interesting:

Chris Rock To Host Academy Awards

Get your "rock the Oscars" jokes ready -- comedian Chris Rock has been announced as the host of the 77th Academy Awards, his first time at bat for the show. Producer Gil Cates broke the news of the fresh Oscar blood Thursday morning, stating that "I am a huge fan of Chris Rock. He always makes me laugh and he always has something interesting to say. Chris represents the best of the new generation of comics. Having him host the Oscars is terrific. I can't wait." Rock, who made his film debut in Beverly Hills Cop II and shot to fame with Saturday Night Live, is no stranger to award shows, having hosted the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards; he's also won three Emmys and two Grammys. As for his recent film shenanigans, Rock is currently shooting The Longest Yard with fellow SNL alumnus Adam Sandler, and provides one of the voices in the upcoming animated flick Madagascar.

I can see the Academy is trying to be cool or, at least, to appear less stodgy.

But seriously, though. I can't wait to see how Chris breathes new life into that ceremony. Oh, the off-the-cuff remarks! I can hear them now!

On a more personal note, I worked my last shift at the retail-job-I-loathe. And had my final sale stolen by my boss. Yup. She rang it up under her. It was a seventy dollar sale. That made the difference between my making my sale's goal or not. No, I wasn't working on commission, but I want my stats to reflect what I did. And what she did was dishonest.

I work my third shift at the coffee house tomorrow. I'm really enjoying the work thus far (I'm especially enjoying not having to bother people as I try to meet my sales' target!) And I'm excited that the manager of the store I'm training at and the manager of the soon-to-be-opened fourth location are fighting over me (well, maybe "fighting" is not the word, but they both want to employ me), and that the owner says that they "have big plans" for me.

Most of all, though, I'm excited to be working full-time hours finally. It's nice to know I'm going to have a consistent paycheque. I need all the financial help I can get. The competition for those grad scholarships (one application down, one to go) will be fierce.