Tuesday, March 07, 2006

oscarmania






















we spent oscar sunday in cambridge with mom and dad, eating a scrumptious indian feast before the broadcast and many trader joe's snacks during. what did you think of the oscars this year? jon stewart got off to a bit of a nervous start, but i thought he was quietly brilliant as usual, though apparently hollywood didn't appreciate him one bit. everything was way too "dignified," and it's always funny to see how seriously hollywood takes itself, but there were some particular highlights which made the whole thing more than worthwhile (uh, for a movie fanatic like me, that is):

  • george clooney, best supporting actor and most charming guy in the room.
  • wallace and gromit, a.k.a. nick park and steve box, best bowties, cutest accents.
  • matt dillon remembering how to smile. for a nanosecond.
  • catherine keener text messaging someone on her cell phone, just like i would be doing if i were at the oscars!
  • who doesn't love to see a famous person almost fall down?
  • "You know it’s hard out here for a pimp/When he tryin’ to get this money for the rent/For the Cadillacs and gas money spent/Because a whole lot of b- talkin’ s- …Man, it seems like I’m duckin’ dodgin’ bullets every day/N-z hatin’ on me cause I got hoes on the tray/But I gotta stay paid, gotta stay above water/Couldn’t keep up with my hoes, that’s when s- got harder…"

least favorite moments included:

  • several winners (including for BEST PICTURE, for god's sake) getting drowned out by the orchestra before they'd gotten a chance to speak.
  • "march of the penguins." i thought at first i'd forgive them for the enormous stuffed penguins because they had french accents (the filmmakers, that is, not the penguins)...but then i changed my mind.
  • the big, black...thing on charlize theron's shoulder.
  • the animatronic version of dolly parton that they sent out on stage via remote control.
  • MICKEY ROONEY, will that man live for all eternity?? he looked disturbingly pink and healthy when the camera spotted him in the audience.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's a very complete Oscar wrap-up! Here's what I thought: it was kind of boring and didn't hold my interest as well as the Oscars usually do, but then I hadn't seen many of the movies. I thought the dresses were beautiful and I even liked Charlize's big bow. And I liked Jon Stewart, although I thought he had to be overly restrained in that setting. And I join you in objecting to how quickly they started playing the music to get people off. Now I want to see Crash!

Liz Woodbury said...

in my skimming of oscar-related blogs, there seems to be an overwhelming critical opinion that crash sucked, or at least that brokeback mountain was robbed, but i have to admit i liked crash a lot. i'm leaning toward thinking that brokeback was a better film altogether, but crash is well worth seeing.

charlotte said...

i have one for least or most favorite moments: some woman who was born in the forties, so she isn't actually old was talking about silent films and she couldn't read her telepromoter.

Liz Woodbury said...

oh, i have another favorite: the robert altman tribute. meryl streep and lily tomlin were really funny, and i liked altman's "sandcastles" metaphor for movies.

margot said...

that was great fun. but i seem to have missed a lot by going to bed at 9:30. oh, well. i'm not surprised you chose a photograph of george clooney!

Liz Woodbury said...

which reminds me, i have something else to add to my lifetime "cute" list.

Anonymous said...

didn't george clooney roll his eyes in a very ungracious manner when some cute little video editor said her highlight was getting seated next to him at a luncheon? or was it someone else?

Liz Woodbury said...

now, see, i thought he was just looking wry and self-effacing...

Artemis said...

big black thing? sounds like the security is looser than i thought!

Liz Woodbury said...

now if she'd arrived with a big black CROW on her shoulder, that would've been so cool.

Anonymous said...

Now I'm wondering if the woman charlotte is talking about is lauren bacall...? if so, she was a famous actress in the forties & is now about 1002, so deserves some slack in the teleprompter reading dept.....no?