Something Fishy

I finally gave Walt his birthday present today.  I took him to The Dead Fish restaurant for lunch.  

This is a place in Crockett, about an hour's drive from here.  I had been there twice before, once with Char and her daughter and Susan from Logos (who is Char's cousin), and once I met Char there for lunch.  They have wonderful crab and as a ban on Dungeness crab imposed in November of 2015 because they discovered toxic levels of domoic acid in Dungeness and rock crabs had been in place, we hadn't been able to eat crab.  The ban was lifted earlier in February and we are free to eat local crab again, so this was our chance to indulge.

I made a reservation on Open Table and was so glad I had because I requested a window table and when we got there the place was mobbed, with people waiting...but there was a wonderful window table reserved for us and we were seated immediately.

It's an amazing place because it is so very, very busy but they have a huge wait and support staff and the whole experience is very efficient.  Our waiter put our drink order into his hand-held computer, which communicates with the bar, and by the time he had taken our food order and left the table, our drinks had arrived.  It doesn't hurt that the food is delicious!

I ordered what I had last time, which was garlic noodles with crab.

You expect to get a bowl full of noodles with crab on top...and you do.  But there is also crab mixed all in the noodles so much so that when you are finishing the noodles at the bottom of the bowl, you can still find crab claw meat.  It's wonderful.  Walt had crab Alfredo, which also looked wonderful.

For dessert we shared some of their cheesecake du jour (I think it was cranberry)

Walt had wine, I had water because I had promised to be the designated driver so he could have wine (and I would not have had wine anyway).

We just had a lovely afternoon, looking out at San Francisco Bay, the Carquinez Bridge, and off to the left, the Maritime Academy and it's training ship.

The drive down had been absolutely gorgeous.  We are in the middle of that wonderful California spring, which seems to last about an hour and a half, where all the hills are a deep green and wild flowers are popping out.  I found it all so breathtaking, I took a long frontage road at one point so I could take pictures

My mother, in her more lucid days, use to marvel at how many different shades of green there are in nature, and you can sure see that in this photo.  I couldn't pull over where the purple lupin was more plentiful, but I did get a spot to take at least one photo of the wildflowers.

We got home in time to catch a brief nap before the Oscars started.  Not the best year and lots of weird stuff...plus it ran 30 minutes long.  I had not seen most of the nominated films (not for best picture or for actor awards), but the two I had seen both won -- Brie Larson for Room and Spotlight as best picture.  I have no desire to see Revinant but was happy to see that Leonardo DiCaprio finally got an Oscar.  He as done such good work and seems a genuine good guy without scandal behind him.  I was happy for him.  Oh.  I also saw Inside Out on the plane going to Europe and was happy that it won for feature animation.

But on the whole, the show was kind of boring and the most puzzling thing about it was the choice of music to play as people enter or exit the stage, music which seemed to come from left field and have zero connection to the person entering or leaving (Cate Blanchett and Reese Witherspoon played on to "The Way We Were," for example).

Best of all, it was over by 9 p.m., with lots of time stretching out in the evening to write this and finish my review of Twelfth Night, which we saw yesterday.

I Hate My Body

Walt and I don't have much opportunity to gather socially with friends.  Mostly it's because we spend so much time going to theater that there is never time.

But we have had three opportunities in the past month+.  January 31 was Ashley's wedding at Lake Tahoe.  I had been looking forward to that wedding for six months.  I love Ashley and seeing her so happy brought a big smile to my face and I couldn't wait to see her married to David.

But I got my famous cold and the cough was constant and sounded terrible.  The last thing I wanted to do was to infect anyone at the wedding with my germs, so we stayed home.

Then Ernie and Lucille came to town.  They are two of my favorite people, Walt's cousin and his wife.  They usually make it out to California once a year and visit Ernie's brother in Long Beach, and Alice Nan in Santa Barbara and then come north to see Norm & Olivia and us.  Whichever cousins and grandchildren they can fit in along the way, so much the better

But as we were getting ready to drive to Norm's house to spend the day with the Sykes family, I was still sounding like a TB ward and sadly decided nobody really wanted to be around me with the constant cough.  So I sent Walt on ahead and he had a wonderful time.

Saturday, 2 days ago, we had an invitation to have dinner at my dentist Cindy's house (Cindy was a friend for about 10 years before she became my dentist).  She and our mutual friend Roberta had taken a course in Mexican cooking and wanted to share with us.  They also invited Susan and Peter from Logos.  Susan and Roberta had been colleagues and remain friends.

I was really looking forward to the dinner.  On Thursday, I developed a "thing."  I don't know what it was but as I worked at Logos, my whole abdominal wall started to get sore.  So sore, I didn't think I could walk the 3 blocks to the car, so Walt came and got me.  I spent Thursday night and Friday in the recliner with ibuprofen (suggested by Kaiser) at my side.

1 a.m. Saturday, I woke up pain free.  I was ecstatic.  My cough was gone, my pain was gone and I had a lovely dinner to look forward to.

In the afternoon, I was feeling the need for a nap, which is not unusual.  I nap most afternoons.  When I got up, I was feeling warm.  Not surprising, I thought, as I had been sleeping in a patch of sun, but when the feeling didn't go away, I thought "what the heck" and took my temperature.  I shouldn't have done that.  It was 100.1.  I went back to the recliner, popped more ibuprofen and hoped that maybe I was just still warm from the sun.

But the fever went UP, to 100.3.  Not a bad fever, but nonetheless, not a healthy temperature.  I called Cindy to get a doctor's opinion and she told me to stay home.  Walt went.  I stayed home and felt sorry for myself.  He did bring me a doggie bag and the dinner was delicious (though my stomach hasn't been up to eating much these days), but I missed all the fun stuff.

But I was well enough to get to the B Street Theater today to review a show there.  Not the greatest show, but one of stories from the Hispanic culture for children.  The kids loved it.  I have to figure out how to write a review.  I would rather have gone to Cindy's.

But I was home for the Oscar telecast.  I love Neil Patrick Harris and thought he did a good job of keeping things rolling, but there seemed to be more tech awards than in recent years and it seemed to take a long time to get to the awards everyone was watching to see (except the families of the tech people). (I did like it that they didn't seem to play people off and let them finish their thank yous this year)

I thought Lupita Nyong'o in that pearl studded dress was stunning, and Jennifer Lopez looked like she was walking on a cloud when she came out in her billowing skirt.

And why doesn't someone let Patricia Arquette know that she needs a comb?  I can't believe she thinks that hairdo looks good.  

But she made a wonderful speech about equal pay for women.  Juliana Moore used her acceptance speech to discuss Alzheimers, while Eddie Redmayne put in a plug for ALS and director Alejandro Inarritu hoped that Mexicans in this country, legally or not, would be given respect.

The obviously gay Graham Moore, who won for best screenplay for The Imitation Game talked about not belonging when he was a kid and that he nearly committed suicide and he tried to tell kids to look at how far he has come and to hang in there...that it will get better.  And J.K. Simmons told everyone to call their parents.

John Legend, winning the award for best song, "Glory," for Selma talked about this being "the most incarcerated country in the world" and how there are now more black men in prison than there were under slavery in 1850.

The winners of the documentary Citizenfour thanked Edward Snowden, while the president of the academy referenced terrorist activity and said that the academy had the responsibility to ensure that no one's voice is silenced by threats."

This may have been the most political Oscar telecast I'd seen since Sacheen Littlefeather rejected the Oscar for Marlon Brando.  But it's always fun.

A Five Hour Chat

There was a time long, long ago when I used to do internet chats, mostly with my friend Ron, and then Peggy and I began our friendship chatting over Africam photos.  But lately I haven't done any chatting, except for once, in 2012 when I happened to catch my friend Jennifer, in Colorado, watching the Oscars when I was and we began to chat.  That was fun.  We didn't get together on Oscar night 2013, but tonight we started chatting on the red carpet and we chatted for a total of about 5 hours while we watched and commented on all the Oscar festivities.  She fed her daughter, Annagrace during ourchat.  I fed the dog, cooked dinner, and ate dinner with my iPad next to me to continue the chat while we continued to watch.

I'm going to cut out all the red carpet comments and condense the oscar chat part, but this is pretty much how our conversation went tonight.   Jennifer's comments will be on the left, and mine on the right, just like they looked on my iPad.  Walt and I had seen Dallas Buyers' Club this afternoon, as one of our free Roku movies but that was the only movie I had seen; Jennifer, who has been pregnant for most of 2013 and then had a newborn to take care of, hadn't seen any either, so we had no "informed" opinions.

As the show started, I started the conversation.

Those Oscars [decorating the stage] look like chessmen
wearing condoms
[first Oscar is won by Jarred Leto for Dallas Buyers' Club]
Great first acceptance speech.
[I was particularly glad to see that he did not try to excuse or even comment
on the transvestite character he played, but was very classy and thanked everyone]

Absolutely!  I love Jim Carrey's suit.  Shiney

Aside:  Throughout the evening, nobody was interrupted in giving their
acceptance speech.  I was so happy about that.  I really love the
speeches and good grief, they've just been named "the best" of the year...
give them a chance to thank all their relatives and teachers and
everyone important to them.  I think it is endearing.

[Great Gatsby wins for costumes]
I knew Great Gatsby would win--the costumes were gorgeous

[as Harrison Ford came on a presenter]
I was wondering why they were playing Indiana Jones.  Now I know.

I always think of him more from Air Force One.

For me it's still allStar Wars -- the good ones, not the crappy ones.

[as Kim Novak, who is 81 yrs old, enters]
Wow.  How long since we've seen Kim Novak?  She came out to Vertigo music.
Victim of plastic surgery, though.

Seriously.

Sally Fields looks great, though.

I was just thinking the same thing.  I love her dress.

[Kate Hudson comes on as a presenter]
Love that dress.  I always wonder how they keep the boobs in.

Tape.  Lots and lots of tape.

At this point Host Ellen Degeneres is in the
audience agreeing to order pizza for everyone,
a funny bit that went on for several segments.

Now I want pizza.

Me too.

I forget which award was won by a couple who
sang their thanks.  "That's a first," I said.

[Angelina Jolie is pointed out in the audience]
How did Angelina Jolie get into the theater without being on the red carpet?

No idea, actually.  It's a great question.

[They show Brad Pitt in the audience]
Brad Pitt is all grown up.

I was thinking about that earlier when they showed him with his kid.

Being a Dad will do that to you.

It's funny how your whole perspective changes and your priorities.

Ellen takes a group picture and tweets it.
Jennifer says she's retweeting it.  I try to get it from Twitter
but get an error message . Apparently others did too.
Later Ellen reports that she heard that she "brokeTwitter"
But after the show I got the pic off of Facebook.

[Lupita Nyongo wins Best Supporting Actress for 12 Years a Slave]
Oh good.  She won!
I'm verklempt.

Only people with pigment in their skin tone can wear that color well.   She looks great.

And she's classy too

 

[They start a salute to the 75th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz]
Now why didn't they show Liza here?

I was wondering that.

[Then they introduce all three of Judy Garland's children]
Oh.  that's why.

Pink starts singing "Over the Rainbow" while
a montage of Oz pictures plays in the background.

Wow.

I love Pink.

I love Judy.  This is so cool!

Not who I would have expected to sing a tribute, but she's rocking.

Pizza is served.  Very funny, handing it
out in the audience.

Glenn Close introduces the In Memoriam montage.

Tear Time.

Then Bette Midler sings "Wind Beneath My Wings"

This song makes me sad.  The movie killed me.

Oh God, this song gets me every time.
[Midler finishes]  that wiped me out.  And she looked damn good, too.

[Goldie Hawn comes on as a presenter--I don't remember for what but apparently I had guessed it]

You called it.

Lotta surgery. I hate it when a beautiful woman does that to herself.
She doesn't even look like Goldie Hawn.

[Idina Menzel comes on to sing nominated song from Frozen]
I adore her.

She's to you what Judy Garland was to me.

[Angelina Jolie comes on with Sidney Poitier]
Poitier is looking so frail. She's beautiful, of course.

Yeah, she's never really done much for me but almost all of my lesbian
friends are in love with her.
[Cate Blanchett wins Best Actress]
My friend Charlene called this one too.

[Matthew McConaughey wins Best Actor -- we chose the best movie to watch this afternoon!]
Oh good. Glad for that win. It was an amazing performance.
Look.  He's beaming!

[OK.  McConaughey's speech was the longest and did go on
a bit, but I didn't even mind that because he was just so happy]

then the biggie.
Twelve Years a Slave wins Best Picture

Hey...surprise!
[I expected Gravity, which had won most of the awards to take this one too]

A good choice, I suspect.

I think I'm happy with all the awards.  A good night tonight.

Yes.

This was fun.  I'm glad you were here to share it with.

Me too.  Thanks!

And so the 5 hour chat finally ended
(you saw about 1/3 of it)
I probably won't chat with Jennifer again for another year
but it was great fun tonight.

Tweeting the Oscars

We attended a matinee today, followed by a reception.  I kept my eye on the clock because I knew the Academy Award broadcast was going to begin at 5:30.  

I got home about 15 minutes beforehand, in time to feed the dogs so they wouldn't go crazy during the 3 hour telecast.  Walt stayed at the theater to clean up the stage and take all the set pieces back to the garage where they live the rest of the year.

So I was here watching the Oscars all alone.  Nobody to say "ooo...didja see that?" to (actually even if he WAS a home, he'd probably be upstairs anyway).  But now I have an iPad and I can relax in the recliner for 3 hours and tweet my opinion.  I even had a couple of people respond to me, which was even nicer.

My first tweet was on the last bit of the red carpet I saw:   Kristin Chenoweth is SO tiny. Looks like a Munchkin between Queen Latifah and Renee Zellweger."  I knew she was short, of course, but between those two stars, she really did look like a Munchkin, especially with that high tiny voice.

When the awards started, my first tweet was "great jab at Acadmy re Affleck," which I think referred to the movie getting best adapted screenplay.   Affleck, of course, had not been nominated in the director category.  As the awards went on, I had been torn between Les Miserables and Lincoln but I had watched Argo on my iPad and realized that I was actually hoping it would win the biggie.

I did mention that I liked the song about Boobies.  Perhaps in poor taste, but I thought it was funny.

"Wow..THAT was a surprise. NOBODY talked about that for supporting actor!"  I know Christoph Waltz is a great actor.  I hadn't seen Django and hadn't really heard much at all about his being a real contender for supporting actor, so it was a surprise when he won.  I really thought DeNiro would get it (and, of course, for Paul's sake hoped he would).

I didn't see Melissa McCarthy on the red carpet, so saw her for the first time when she walked out as a presenter.  I had two immediate reactions.  The first was that she has obviously lost weight (maybe Rex Reed's nasty comments about her weight had an impact), but my second impression that she was sabotaged by her dress designer. First of all, it was a grey dress standing in front of a grey background.  It was almost a green screen moment. 

But secondly, my god loook at that thing.  It looks like they took a sheet and wrapped it around her, gathering it and tying it at the side. 

I certainly know the problems with trying to make a larger figure look good, but I have seen McCarthy in very flattering gowns and I'm sorry, but this was just not one of them.

But I loved the guy who won the award for animated feature film for Brave, which is set in Scotland--and accepted his award in kilts.   It warmed the cockles of my Diana Gabaldon heart (though maybe "warming the cockles" and "kilts" should not be used in the same sentence).

"No surprise Life of Pi for cinematography. Good job." I wrote, as the movie started its collection of several oscars, culminating in the Best Director for Ang Lee.  I really have to see this movie before it leaves the local theater!

"Halle Berry really is one of the most beautiful women in the world," I said.  I wonder what that woman looks like when she gets up in the morning.  I have never seen her when she did not look gorgeous.

 

Salma Hayek also looked pretty gorgeous too, with that gold dickie hugging her neck.

 

"John Wilkes Booth joke in poor taste," I commented and discovered that when my tweet posted it joined a dozen other similar comments.  On the whole, I didn't mind Seth MacFarlane's humor...some funny, some less funny, some questionable, but of all of them, his joking about the Lincoln assassination seemed to offend the most people.

About then they mentioned the ceremony orchestra, which was in a building a block away.  Imagine--they weren't even in the building!   The first play-off speech they had to interrupt was the guy who won the first award for Life of Pi and I thought it humorous that they used the theme music for Jaws, but as they continued to us that music for all long-winded speeches, it lost its effectiveness.

There was a salute to movie musicals, which included music from three musicals:  Chicago (which the producers of this Oscars program also produced, which may explain why a 10 year old movie was chosen).  The second musical was Dreamgirls, and the final was Les Miserables, which included all the stars of the movie on a selection of tunes.  I tweeted "Crowe is still the weakest in the cast," and then added "Correction.  Crowe still stinks."  When my tweets posted there were lots and lots of people saying the same thing.

"We knew she was going to win but Ann Hathaway still brought tears to my eyes," I said.  As many know, I'm a very emotional person and it doesn't take much to bring me to tears.  This may have been the only moment in this year's Oscars  that did it (other than the memorial section, of course.  That always gets me!). She was beautiful and gracious and it made you happy that she won, though MsIndigo and I both agreed we would have been delighted if the win had gone to Jacki Weaver from Silver Linings Playbook, whose performance was so good you almost didn't notice it as a performance.

I commented that Kristen Stewart looked like she was about to vomit.   Again, I joined a host of people wondering what was wrong with her, everything from lack of sleep to being drunk, to having taken drugs.  Not the actress' best moment, for sure!

The memorial section seemed half people you knew and people you didn't know (first time I've seen a publicist mentioned).  Odd that they left out Andy Griffith, but the finale of Marvin Hamlish, with Barbra Streisand making a surprise appearance, her first time at the awards in 15 years, looking more beautiful than I have seen her look in a long time.  Interesting to separate the commenters into those who spelled it right, Barbra, and those who went for Barbara.  One local tweeter in particular surprised me, as it was someone who should know better.

The biggies pleased me...Daniel Day Lewis seemed to have a lock on it, so no surprise.  Jennifer Lawrence beat out Jessica Chastain for best actress.   Since I had not seen Zero Dark Thirty, and had seen Silver Linings Playbook, I was happy about that.  And I was positively thrilled with Argo's win.  Take THAT, Academy! And how about having Michelle Obama announce the award from the White House (I wonder if it would have  been appropriate if Zero Dark Thirty had won...)

I thought the final song was anti-climactic, but I also wondered when it was written, since it referred to losers throughout the show.  They must have been writing the song backstage during the show

So it's over.  It would have been more fun watching with real people in the room (Polly was asleep, and since no dogs were nominated, she didn't care), but I'm glad I have Twitter, so at least I have something of a feel of camaraderie.

And on the whole, it was, I thought, a good show.  Not one of the greater, more memorable shows, but satisfactory anyway.

Blogging the Oscars

I was going to blog the oscars with my friend Jennifer, in Colorado.  I had grand plans of lounging in my recliner with my lap top--until I remembered that my guru still has my laptop.  So instead, I'll be watching the show from my desk.

Red Carpet - I'm learning about the importance of "shape wear" for men (Tim Gunn confesses) and for women.  I think I'm too far gone for any "shape wear."  It looks like so much complicated engineering goes into it, the designers could work for NASA!

The white girl from The Help is on camera in a dress she describes as "fuschia" but which looks like a bright cardinal red on my screen.

Melissa McCarthy...tears...love it when big girls get recognition.  Her dress even looks gorgeous.

Tina Fey loooks gorgeous. ** Awkward interviewing Colin Firth with his companion, whom he never introduced.  Interviewer wanted to talk to her, but didn't know what to call her. She did look lovely, though. ** I think Nina Garcia is having an orgasm over Michelle Williams. *** Jennifer Lopez looks gorgeous, as always. *** Penelope Cruz is wearing the kind of dress I would have worn. If I were young, thin, and famous. 

You can tell it's getting close to the start of the show because commercials are coming every 3 minutes...kind of like contractions, only more painful.

The Show

I have seen every host of the Oscars from Bob Hope to Johnny Carson to everybody else and NOBODY holds a candle to Billy Crystal.   That opening montage was fabulous.  Walt missed the whole thing since he was talking to Tom on the phone at the time.  Fortunately, I was recording it.

Cameron Diaz and Jennifer Lopez...is that the most gorgeous looking pair walking out that you've ever seen? Of course you look at Jennifer Lopez and the only thing I can ask is "how do they keep those boobs from falling out?"  Duct tape?

Very nice acceptance speech by the guy for costumes (is this for costumes) on "Iron Lady."  Meryl Streep is obviously much beloved as an actress.

First biggie -- Octavia Spencer.  I know everyone said it was a lock, but there are always surprises.  She looks beautiful and I'm so glad she won. The Help is actually the only film that I;ve seen this year (of the nominated films!)

Oh my...this "focus group" for Wizard of Oz is wonderful.  I absolutely love anything Christopher Guest and his group do and this was fabulous.  So glad I am recording it!

The Cirque de Soleil bit was fabulous.   This truly is the best Oscars show I've seen in years.  Jennifer's wife said her back hurt just watching it.

...oh so happy that Christopher Plummer won for supporting actor.  I haven't seen the film but everyone says that it's wonderful.   Another to put on my list.

The guy from The Artist who won for best original score said he never learned how to compose or arrange music.  I could give him the name of teacher of composing and arranging, if he wants.

Angelina Jolie looks quite amazing and imposing on that stage.

Oh so glad Descendants won an award.   I haven't seen it, but I have been very happy that George Clooney has received such good reviews for his performance.  The Oscar is probably going to the latecomer from The Artist, but I've been hoping it's Clooney.

The guy giving the acceptance speech for Descendants has thanked his mother and dedicated the Oscar to her.  That always makes me cry because it was my joke with Paul that he one day stand on the stage accepting an Oscar and thanking me for all my support over the years.

(Actually a couple of months after Paul died, Stephen Peithman and I received an Elly award, which is the local community theatre award, for the script that we co-wrote (Steve wrote 99% of it, but I got an award too).  I had to go up on stage to get my award and all I said was "this one is for Paul.")

These snippets of actors talking about actors and film and all sorts of feelings about things are really good.  Gives you an insight into both the industry and the individual actors.

I also like the unusual way they are handling music for this show.  Not just the generic background music, but some really interesting stuff...and playing from the box seat area as well.

I'm noticing that the commercials, too, are almost Super Bowl quality...actually, I'm enjoying them more than the Super Bowl commercials.  I'm also loving the girls who are distributing snacks.

Well, The Artist gets best director.   Guess that says which film is going to be best picture.  I must see that film!

I am disappointed that George Clooney didn't get an Oscar but he can commiserate with his friend Brad Pitt.  And much as I love Meryl Streep, I so wanted Viola Davis to get it.

As I predicted, The Artist got the big one.  The producer looks like a teenager.

Well, it's over for another year.  Now I have a zillion movies I want to see.  I loved the production of the show this year.   There was nothing I didn't like, except some of the awards.  And it was fun sharing it all with Jennifer...the beauty of computers.  Even if you live hundreds of miles away it doesn't mean you can't party together!

------
Cousins Day tomorrow.  You know what that means....

Blogging the Oscars

Well, it's the night of MY "Super Bowl." It's the 83rd Oscars. We had brunch with Ned and Marta and went to see The Illusionist today and Ned asked me afterwards if I would be blogging the Oscars. I actually hadn't planned on it, but I always do what Ned suggests, so here I am blogging the Oscars. I guess this is supposed to be the "young, hip" Oscar telecast, hence the young hosts. I'm the product of the golden age of Hollywood and find it a little harder to relate to what I've seen thus far. Anne Hathaway is cute as a button, but her co-host, James Franco doesn't do much for me.

I suspect I wuld have enjoyed the opening film if (a) I'd seen more of the nominated movies, and (b) hadn't been putting the dogs' dinner together at the time.

Despite being a mom who expected one of my kids to get up on stage and win an Oscar some day, the Mom and Grandma in the audience didn't do anything for me...this is the Academy Awards, after all, not your high school senior class play.

At the other end of the spectrum, Kirk Douglas, shame on you for hijacking the show. You have to hand it to the guy for remaining an active part of the Hollywood community despite the effects of his stroke, but dragging out an already long show by trying to be funny (when he wasn't) was very uncomfortable. Someone should have used the hook.

Only--what...?--the third award and already they are bleeping F-words. Melissa Leo appeared shocked that it had come out of her mouth. I did like how sincere she was and how she thanked her family over and over again.

[aside--I'm watching this while at the same time being a doggie trampoline...not the easiest thing to do!]

Continuing the young and hip theme was Justin Timerlake and I didn't catch the name of his partner. Not funny. Uncomfortable.

Yay for Toy Story 3's win. Even though we'd just seen The Illusionist, an excellent film, how can you not give Toy Story the win?

I do love Helen Mirren. I swear I'd watching her read the phone book.

David Seidler gets best original screenplay forThe King's Speech. His father always told him he would be a late bloomer, the 74 year old writer says. He accepted the award in the name of stutterers everywhere--that they have a voice. He, himself, developed a stutter in his teen years. I remember Colin Firth talking about how he learned from him what it was like to stutter. Sure no sign of a sutter tonight.

Hathaway's rewritten "On My Own" didn't do anything for me. I am just not young and hip any more. I do have to say, though that Hathaway in a tux is much more attractive than Franco in a pink dress. Bad, bad, bad. It's a long way to go for a dig at Charlie Sheen. Where is Billy Crystal when you really really need him?

I guess I'm going to have to see that fight movie. Christian Bale has won all the awards for suporting actor. (Amazing that he didn't seem to be able to remember his wife's name, though!) I was hoping for Geoffrey Rush, who I thought turned in an excellent performance--but then I didn't see Bale.

Most of these presenters are people I don't recognize. I am so old...

I don't care if you ARE a costume designer, nobody wants to watch you stand there in your black lace gloves and read an acceptance speech--badly.

Whew. Kevin Spacey. For one brief moment things seem smooth and professional and like someone was finally in charge.

Oh lord, it's Oprah. It's not enough she has a talk show and owns her own network, now she's on the Oscars too? She is the Second Coming, you know. Don't let the fundamentalists know that Jesus has come back as a black woman.

Finally someone turns in a political comment about Wall Street criminals. "not a single financial executive has gone to jail"

The answer to a prayer: Billy Crystal. Too late for a save, but again, so nice to see someone in charge. ...and Robert Downey, Jr. is also very funny.

Oh dear, Social Network wins for film editing. Not a good sign for King's Speech.

Given what's going on in Wisconsin and across the country, I expected a lot of award recipients to thank their unions, but so far only one has.

Apparently Hathaway is the only person who thinks Franco is funny.

Jennifer Hudson looks fabulous. Congratulations, Jenny Craig! (Or is she Weight Watchers...I forget which is which)

I've lived long enough to see Gwyneth Paltrow starting to look old.

The dead people montage came on without introduction and left without comment, but Celine Dion looked like she had a bad headache. Either they are including more non-actors in the montage now or all those directors, agents, cinematographers and costume designers are getting old and dying off.

It's impossible for Halle Barry to look bad. Nice tribute to Lena Horn.

What time is it. Isn't this thing over yet...? I'm getting butt fatigue (and I'm able to get up and walk around!)

Just because the show isn't long enough already, now they have presenters to introduce presenters. Here we go...director award. YES! The King's Speech!!! Loved the director's story about his mother finding the script for him, and his conclusion "listen to your mum."

Whew. Commercial time. I can pee...

Annette Benning should watch how she holds her head when photographed, though I wouldn't mind having all those wrinkles if it meant less fat. I guess it's no surprise that Natalie Portman won the award, but it would have been nice to see a nice lesbian movie featured, especially since everyone says Benning is sooo good in it. I do want to see Black Swan. Portman gave a beautiful speech.

Whew...Colin Firth takes the Oscar. I'm speechless. (that's a joke, son)

OK...I'm happy now. The Kings Speech won best picture. And finally someone thanked his boyfriend. Watching this show tonight you'd think that everybody in the movie industry was straight.

James Franco immediately seemed to forget which movie won. Who in the world decided to have this guy host?

Awww...ending with "Over the Rainbow." Such cute kids. The guy in front on the right was just too much fun to watch.

The show was 3+ hours long, which was entirely TOO long. But it's over, the good guys got their recognition and I can get back to my life.

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????

Blogging the Oscars

It's the Big Game (go Bears!), the SuperBowl (go Niners!), the World Cup (go Australia!). For those of us who are athletically challenged, who grew up with Photoplay and and Modern Screen and read the pink section of the San Francisco Chronicle instead of the Sporting Green, this is the Big Night. I've watched the playoffs -- the Golden Globes, the Screen Actors Guild Awards and the People's Choice Awards, but this is the Big Kahuna. The Capo di tutti capi.

Some folks have Academy Awards parties like other people have Superbowl parties. I don't know what you eat at an Academy Award party. But I'm not having a party. I'm just settling in with my laptop and blogging my thoughts as the show progresses. Kind of an after-the-fact party with anybody who enjoys awards shows and reads this journal. Here we go...

We were at a concert, so I missed all the red carpet stuff (probably just as well, especially if it was raining there like it is here). I got home exactly 2 minutes before the main broadcast started.

It wasn't an outstanding opening number, but for a low budget production, it was quite nice. Perfect for Hugh Jackman.

Clever having five supporting actresses to introduce the winner. I loved Whoopie Goldberg's comments about how difficult it is to be a nun. Penelope Cruz seems very sweet and very sincere. Haven't seen Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Teaming Steve Martin and Tina Fey (how can anyone be that thin?) to introduce best screenplay was inspired. Two very funny people. Funny bit. Yay! First award for Milk! Let's hope this is a good omen. Speech by Dustin Lance Black (the screenwriter) moved me to tears. How wonderful was his speech: "If Harvey had not been taken from us 30 years ago, I think he would want me to say to all the gay and lesbian kids out there tonight who have been told they are less than by the churches, by the government, by their families, that you are beautiful, wonderful creatures of value, and that no matter what anyone tells you, God does love you and that very soon, I promise you, you will have equal rights, federally, across this great nation of ours."

Also adapted script award for Slumdog Millionaire...the race is on.

Fun 2008 animation. I remember when I saw one of the very first computer animated cartoons with Gilbert in about 1985. We agreed it was awesome, but that it would take a long time before it would become practical to make a full length feature cartoon. How I wish Gilbert were here now to see how far we've come! (I have GOT to see Wall-E!)

Japanese animator's "thank you" speech was very cute.

Sarah Jessica Parker is going to lose the top of her dress any. minute. now. Either that or there's an awful lot of superglue packed into that bodice! That can't possibly be comfortable.

These art direction awards always make me want to rush out to the theatre as soon as the awards show is over, especially for the period pictures.

They don't seem to be cutting off speeches early as in previous years, which makes me happy. Some of these guys, especially the behind the scenes guys, only have this one minute in the sun and how nice to let them have it. Everybody should have the chance to thank his or her Mom.

I liked the "Romance in 2008" film, especially since they included everything from heterosexual romance to gay romance to robot romance...and they were all pretty much the same!

(If our router were connected, I'd be sitting here adding films to my Netflix queue, but I am not getting a wifi signal with the laptop in my lap)

How nice that Natalie Portman is wearing something OTHER than white (but she could have used a little of that extra boob tissue that Sarah Jessica Parker was spilling out of her dress!). I guess Ben Stiller is doing an impersonation of...who was it?...who was on Letterman the other night.

I should know who the silly guys are on the couch watching the videos in the 2008 comedy film, but I don't. Bad me. I don't even recognize their names except Seth Rogan (and I don't know which one he is).

Finally! Jessica Beal is representing the "my gawd where did she get THAT?" dress. Looks like someone took a gigantic ribbon and started to wrap her up and never quite finished.

(Char just called to let us know we have to watch Amazing Race because her son called from Maryland to tell her that they throw pies at each other. [now why would Tim think to tell his mother that? heh heh] Fortunately I have it set for the DVR)

I'm lovin' the salute to musicals, created by Baz Lurman, even if I'm not recognizing any of the performers except Jackman. But then I'm a movie musical kinda person. And of course they ended with "Over the Rainbow," which always makes me happy

What an interesting assortment of Supporting Actor presenters. Joel Grey seems so old. I guess he really is. It's been a long time since Cabaret.

I guess I was really hoping Heath Ledger wouldn't get the Oscar (just because it would be nice to give it to someone sitting in the hall--but then I didn't see his performance), but it seemed inevitable; he's won all the other awards. Very touching to have his family accept the Oscar for him. OK--I'm crying again.

(Walt has fallen asleep and is gently snoring in the next chair)

I wonder where you go to see documentaries. Not Davis, for sure. I've never heard of any of these films--except the winner which, by coincidence, had been featured on The Today Show this morning.

OK. The 2008 action retrospective doesn't do much for me. It's like those previews that we sit through in the theatre and say "We can miss that one..." I'm not really an action junkie.

Gee...Benjamin Button seems to be winning all the technical awards so far.

I just love watching Danny Boyle every time Slumdog Millionaire wins an award. After all these awards he still can't believe that his film can win, it seems. The two kids (Dev Patel and Freida Pinto) are also like...well...KIDS, bouncing up and down, with huge smiles on their faces. Such a great triumph for a "little" film!)

Funny commercial with Jimmy Kimmel and Tom Cruise.

Jerry Lewis gets the Humanitarian award. Such conflicted feelings about Jerry Lewis. I was never a fan and I know he has raised lots of money for kids with muscular dystrophy but there are an awful lot of times when he seems to be exploiting the kids...don't get me started.... I don't know enough about it. Just let's say I'm not a fan. But he made a heartfelt acceptance and looked like it was physically difficult for him.

(since I can't connect to the internet while on the laptop, I have played dozens of games of FreeCell!)

Defiance. Damn. There's another one to add to my Netflix queue.

Every time someone introduces Zach Effron I think they're talking about Zack Braff (the guy from Scrubs)

Loved the Bollywood choreography for the...uh...nominated SONG? Probably not playing on Jack-FM locally (though I DO have the DVD of the music) How cool the way "Jai Ho" from Slumdog and the song from Wall-E worked together contrapuntally.

Queen Latifa...bad...bad dress. Looks like a Mrs. American reject. And the memorial for all the guys who died this year, usually very moving, was annoying because instead of showing the faces full screen, they kept including Latifa in the picture. It was nice having lots of pictures of the departed at the same time, but that didn't really work for the home audience.

Reese Witherspoon and Queen Latifa had the same dress designer who looks like she made both dresses from the same bolt(s) of material. Witherspoon is too beautiful a woman to look so bad in a dress.

Well, there goes the Milk ballgame. With Danny Boyle winning best director, that's a sure sign that Slumdog will be best picture. I do love how unkempt he looks--regular suit, no tuxedo; shirt unbuttoned, tie loosened, hair (what there is of it) mussed up. Great. He looks like I looked after the concert tonight, with all those long-time friends all dolled up and me in my Scott Family reunion t-shirt. I go to theatre too much to remember to ever "dress up." For me it's like going to work.

I really like this 5 people presentation thingy, with each past winer giving a special message to one particular nominee, though I fail to see what the theme from Gone with the Wind has to do with the best actress nominations this year!

Halle Berry is a glamorous woman, who was sabotaged by her hairdresser. And Sophia Loren is soon going to outdo Joan Rivers for plastic surgery taken too far. Nicole Kidman is monochromatic, with dress, complexion and hair all blending together, but it doesn't look bad on her, especially against that red, red lipstick.

Best actress: Kate Winslet. No surprise. So I'm assuming that I won't be seeing Sean Penn climb the stage for best actor award next. So far the Oscars are mirroring all the other other awards. But what the heck...I'm a sucker for an emotional speech. Winslet has me crying.

Could there be a more perfect a person to honor Sean Penn than Robert DiNiro? And what the heck is The Visitor (or Richard Jenkins either, for that matter)? Anthony Hopkins is also perfect to honor Brad Pitt--I remember their work together in Meet Joe Black.

Yes!!!! Sean Penn won!!!! The gay vote won out over the redeemed actor vote. The screenwriter is crying and so am I. Penn does not disappoint in taking the opportunity to speak out for equal rights and against the messages of hatred that were apparently in front of the theatre tonight. "For those who saw the signs of hatred as our cars drove in tonight, I think it's a good time for those who voted for the ban against gay marriage to sit and reflect on their great shame and their shame in their grandchildren's eyes if they continue that support," Penn said. "We've got to have equal rights for everyone."

OK...Slumdog can win now. I'm happy that Milk got sufficient recognition.

Brilliant editing of the film clips for the best picture, mixing them with clips from past movies. And yes, Slumdog wins. That's OK. I loved the film. The little kid is upstaging everyone, as he did in the movie. Great face!

I don't know what critics will say, but I enjoyed the awards ceremony. I especially loved that I don't think the orchestra cut ANYBODY's thank you speeches off. That was great.

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And yes, when it was all over, we watched Amazing Race. The pie tosses reminded me of a day, many years ago. So many children, so many pies. So much mess on our front lawn...