The Oscars

The Oscars were first broadcast on television in 1953, which was the year my family got its first television set. My mother (and thus me too) was always interested in Hollywood and movie stars so we watched the Oscars.  I remember that they had the nominated actors sitting on something that looked like a big cake, as it slowly moved around.

I loved the show and have watched it every year since -- that makes 50 years!  In the last few years it's been kind of silly to watch it, since I don't go to movies and don't recognize most of the nominees, or the presenters.  But I still enjoy it.  I also watch the red carpet.  This year t here was a pre-show red carpet where they took the audience into the theater so you could see what it was like inside. Pretty amazing the bar, and food court, and all the things that the stars could enjoy.

This year's format was different for the awards to actor/actress and supporting actor/actress.  Five former winners of that award stood on stage and each talked about one of the nominees.  I thought this was going to make the show go on forEVer, but it was actually very nice and so nice for the nominees to hear such good things about themselves.

I also like watching  the real red carpet, not to see what my favorite stars are wearing (since I have no favorite stars), but I do enjoy seeing the gowns.  Nobody dresses like Cher used to, but there were some pretty interesting looks.  I wondered how Sandra Huller was able to sit in a chair without poking the people on either side of her.

I was so thrilled the DaVine Joy Andrews won the Oscar for her performance in The Holdovers.  Her acceptance was the most tearful of  the night.

I didn't think too much of America Ferrera's dress, which was attractive, until I saw someone on TV explain that it had taken over 400 hours to make and was a chain link by Versace.

Then, of course there was this look which was beautiful.

But I have to admit that my favorite was the sleeves on this dress.

I hadn't heard of the movie Poor Ones but it got so much notice (and so many awards) that I looked it up and found it on line, so since the awards was over by 7:30 I settled in to watch the movie.  I have to admit that I turned it off halfway through.  I didn't like any of the characters and couldn't figure out where it as going, and hated all the sex in it.  But I could definitely see why Emma Stone won the Oscar over Lily Gladstone for Killers of the Flower Moon.  I did feel sorry for Gladstone, though, since everyone expected her to win.  Must have killed her when they called Emma Stone's name.

Best part of the Oscars was when Jimmy Kimmel (the host) read the review that Trump had posted about how bad his performance was. 

“Has there EVER been a WORSE HOST than Jimmy Kimmel at The Oscars,” Trump wrote. “His opening was that of a less than average person trying too hard to be something which he is not, and never can be.” In response, Kimmel joked: “Isn’t it past your jail time?”

 So it's over for another year.

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PHOTO OF  THE DAY

Osage singers from Killers of the Flower Moon, who performed
one of the nominated musical numbers.

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An Oscar Weekend

 I've been a big Oscar fan ever since the very first award ceremony was broadcast on TV in 1953,  the year we got our television set.  My mother was a big fan of movies and movie stars and it was our big thing to watch together...and I have just kept watching, though I sometimes think it's pointless when I haven't seen most of the movies and don't recognize most of the "stars"...but I still love the pagentry.

My Oscar weekend started on Saturday when Turner Classic Movies continued to show their month of Oscar winners.  Saturday was a great day.  I watched The Music Man, Judy Garland's A Star Is Born, and American in Paris.  I recorded Fiddler on the Roof and Cabaret, which were on too late and I knew I'd fall asleep if I watched them.

The Sunday broadcast of the Oscars started at 5, but at 3 ABC was on the "red carpet" (this year champagne colored) and that's always fun, seeing the stars interviewed before they enter the theater.  I was most impressed with Melissa McCarthy's dress.  It was designed by Christian Siriano but there was a pipe burst in his studio and the dress was ruined.  He created this dress in a day.

Jimmy Kimmel was the host of the show and I found it one of the more enjoyable Oscar broadcasts that I've seen in the past few years.

Everything Everywhere All at Once was the big winner.  I tried to watch that movie and just couldn't get into it.  Now I'm thinking I should try again. Ke Huy Quan was the first award given out, for supporting actor in Everythng .and his speech was very emotional.

He  talked about fleeing Vietnam and coming to this country in a boat with his father and 5 of his siblings in 1978.  He spent a year in a refugee camp...and now he was standing on the biggest stage in the world.  His tearful thanks went to 84 year old his mother and I confess to being moved to tears.

The other acceptance that moved me to tears was Jamie Lee Curtis, who also won for supporting actor in Everything.

She also gave an emotional speech, thanking everyone she has ever worked with, but it was when she mentioned that both of her parents (Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh) had been nominated in the past she got teary as she spread her arms out and said "I won an Oscar!"

Best musical number went to Naatu Naatu, a Bollywood number from the movie RRR that got everyone tapping their toes.

I checked out the movie, an Indian action film which was entirely too violent for me to stick with it...and definitely nothing like the song itself!

It was fun watching Ke Huy Quan greet Harrison Ford at the end of the show, before the big award was read.

Quan's very first movie role was as "Short Round" in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom when he was 12 years old.

So now the Oscars are over for another year and I guess I'm going to have to give Everything Everywhere All at Once  another shot.

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