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.