The Super Bowl

Today was the Super Bowl for non-sports fans: The Oscars. I love all the awards shows, but the granddaddy of them all is the one I look forward to every year. Which is very strange since other than the animated film, UP, I haven't seen a single nominated film. But that's OK.

I love the pomp and circumstance, the gaffs and the teary moments, and I weep along with the Memorial section. I miss the days when every woman who came on looked like something out of Cher's reject closet. Now they all just look glamorous. There hasn't been a weirdo since Bjork threw that goose around her neck.

I laugh at the stars who have so much botox in their face they can't move any facial muscles any more (like Joan Rivers and Arnold Schwarzenegger), or who have shot so much stuff into their lips they make Angelina Jolie look thin-lipped. And then there is always "Jack," slouched in the front row, looking like the whole thing is a comedy...which it probably is. Never did much like Jack Nicholsen but he seems to have become the beloved grand old man of cinema these days.

Once again, I am blogging the Oscars. Here are my comments while watching the show:

Strange opening number with Neil Patrick Harris, when they panned out to the audience, sitting in total darkness to show specific people. But entrance of Martin and Baldwin in Glinda's bubble from Wicked was very funny. The opening monologue (duolog?) was spotty, and mostly not very funny, but all the Inglourious Basterds stuff was fun. Loved the glare between Clooney and Baldwin. I also laughed when Steve Martin pointed out to Christoph Waltz that if he was spending his career looking for Jews, he had hit the motherload!

The confusion between Dame or damn Helen Mirren was funny. Merryl Streep -- being the actress who has been nominated the most times (16) means that she has recorded the most losses. She seemed to laugh a lot at that.

"If you want a transcript of this show, you should really consider getting a life." And yer point is?

First award to Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds as suporting actor was no surprise, since he has won all the awards up to now. But the film clips DID make me want to see Invictus (even tho Matt Damon didn't win best supporting actor)

Glad to see them doing all the nominated songs together rather than stretching it out over the evening, sung by people who didn't perform the song in the first place. That was always such a dead spot in the already long evening.

Never heard of District Nine before. Invictus meets The Day the Earth Stood Still?

Love the quote from Robert Downey, Jr. on the acting/writing award: "It's a collaboration between handsome gifted people & sickly little mole people!"

Cute little Molly Ringwald has grown up into an ordinary looking old person who never smiles. I saw her in a play a couple of years ago. I was not impressed--except that I found out "whatever happened to Molly Ringwald" "When you get older, your heart dies." Really???

So many of these "stars" are people I've never heard of. Where's Cary Grant? Humphrey Bogart? Loretta Young? Bette Davis? Cher? (What's that you say? I'm OLD! Harumph!)

People are tweeting that it's boring. Hey, guys...it's the OSCARS. Of course it's boring. That's the fun.

Ben Stiller in his Avatar makeup is very funny. I guess you either like Stiller or you don't like him, but I usually enjoy his humor and thought he was very funny. I wonder how Roddenberry would feel knowing that this long after his little television series, the Star Trek franchise is still a major player--and winning awards.

The acceptance speech by Precious guy for best adapted screenplay is why I watch the Oscars every year. Guys you don't know from movies you haven't seen in categories that you don't care about are sometimes the real gold of these awards.

Robin Williams seems particularly subdued tonight!

Mo'Nique was very dignified accepting her award for best supporting actress--but what does it say about the producers of the show that while she was speaking they singled out every face of color in the audience.

Comment from someone on Facebook: "since the women have started picking better dresses there isnt even anything to mock!" She's right. Red seems to be the color of the evening for dresses. It also looked like Penelope Cruz and Vera Farmiga are wearing the same dress.

Sandy Powell's comment winning the costume award for Young Victoria ("I already have two of these...") seemed almost a nyah nyah nyah nyah, especially since she thanked nobody.

The bedroom skit between Martin and Baldwin was just dumb. Why not just make Billy Crystal the permanent host and stop all this experimenting.

The tribute to horror films just makes me realize how many I have not seen (and surprised at how many I actually did recognize--mostly the Psycho era).

Hmmm...The Hurt Locker seems to be racking up awards people expected to go to Avatar. Is the ex-missus giving the ex-hubby a run for his money?

Why are they playing the theme to ET after the tech awards for Hurt Locker?

Every time I see John Travolta, I think of the death of his son and my heart hurts for him.

For some reason the two who moved me the most in the memorial section were Natasha Richardson and Dom DeLuise. But where were Bea Arthur, Henry Gibson and Farrah Fawcett?

I'm not blown away by the dance number representing the nominations in best original score, though the Avatar section is by far the best. The robot dancing to the music from Up was just damn weird.

What a surprise...Up was the winner. First surprise award of the night for me. Loved the guy's acceptance speech, encouraging kids who want to be creative to BE creative because "it's not a waste of time."

LOL. LOVED the commercial for "Modern Family." Charades of movie titles and only the gay couple nailed them every time.

All of the documentary films look like films I'm sorry I haven't seen, but I'm glad that The Cove won. Learning about the slaughter of dolphins months ago was a big shock for me--I hope this award sheds even brighter light on the atrocity.

Hurt Locker gets film editing. Not looking good for Avatar for the big one.

I do like the idea of having co-stars of the actor nominees talking about the nominees. Maybe a little strange, but I really did like it. It seemed the only part of the show that might have been unscripted and made it more "real." Award was no surprise. Like the supporting actor awards, this goes to the guy who has been winning at all the other award ceremonies too. Loved Jeff Bridges' pure joy at winning.

From the look on Gabourney Sidibe's face, Oprah's comments on may have been as good as winning the Oscar itself.

OK -- Sandra Bullock's speech was the only one which had me crying. I would have liked to see any of the five women win, but I'm glad she did. But who did Sandra Bullock's make-up. I've been watching her for years and she just didn't look right. She's prettier than she looked tonight. (After seeing the Barbara Walters interview, I realize that it's the lipstick. You never see her with bright red lipstick. It doesn't suit her.)

History is made with Katherine Bigelow's award as best director. This is what--the 82nd Oscar award and the first time a woman has won?

And The Hurt Locker has beaten Avatar. I have no opinion, since I've seen neither, but it's kind of nice to see a "low budget" film winning out over the mega bucks film.

The program is over, my ice cream should have set up by now and I am going to have a celebratory dish.

Thanks for reading all the way to the bottom.

Hey! Where was Jack????