Thoughts on the Oscars

Loved the opening of the show--computer generated images of famous actors and shots from movies. What a fun and exciting way to start the ceremony! I was reminded again of how much I love Jon Stewart. He is totally current and somehow manages to be a part of Hollywood while poking fun at it. Favorite line: "Usually when there's a black president or woman president, there's an asteroid headed toward the Statue of Liberty. How will we know it's the future?"

How beautiful is Jennifer Garner? She was the perfect choice to present costumes!

80 years of Oscar--yeah!! I live for this crap!! Love the shot of Audrey Hepburn and the Titanic song was surprisingly moving. I'm a little disappointed they didn't show a clip of Halle Berry's historical win.

Anne Hathaway's dress is unusual, but I think I like it. Very striking on her. Favorite line: "Is this being shown in Belgium?" "Oui."

Um, what the hell if Persophone? A little frightening for animated, no? Hey, I just watched Ratatouille on Tuesday. So I've seen TWO nominated films now. Ratatouille and Atonement. One excellent speech by the animated guy. "He gave me excellent training for the movie business."

Excellent speeches: 1

Have yet to see what Nicole Kidman is wearing. Come on! How endearing is the French chick's excitement? (Sidenote: how beautiful is the French chick?)

I am so excited for Amy Adams to sing "That's How She Knows". Three cheers for Amy Adams!! But ... could they not get her a better microphone? Wow! She was amazing!

The Rock: surprisingly funny. The Golden Compass people are very excited to be there. Very cute. Love the quote by Walt Disney they used. I am especially grateful for the short speeches.

I like when Jon Stewart laughs at his own nonsense. It might be pretentious on others, but it is endearing when he does it, like he recognizes his nonsense and it apologizing for it.

Okay, supporting actor. I think I'm rooting for Casey Affleck, mainly because he's so cute. I think's gonna be Javier though. Actually, I'd be okay with anyone. The Hal Holbrook clip was heartbreaking. It reinforces that I will never be seeing that movie. Javier won it. Why is it so fun to listen to foreign languages, even when you don't understand what they are saying?

Next song: Raise It Up from August Rush. I remember that I loved the song in this placement. Tearjerker and very moving. Very nice performance. But I'm still rooting for "That's How She Knows."

Ugh. I hate animated presenters in the Oscars. I hated it when Shrek did it. I hated it when Woody and buzz did it. And I hate it now when Jerry Seinfeld is doing it. Although props for showing a clip from A Room with a View.

More montages--yay!! Best Supporting Actress is up. I am NOT voting for Cate Blanchett. I like her, but I'm over it--too much exposure. I'm voting for Saiorse Ronan or Amy Ryan, mainly because I know neither of them will ever win. I wish Tilda Swinton would wear mascara. It's frightening. Oh, and she just won. Her dress is hideous. Her speech was good though. Ha! The George Clooney stuff was hilarious. "Hanging upside down at lunch" in the Batman suit. Here's a fun fact: Tony Gilroy also wrote The Cutting Edge. Maybe I will see Michael Clayton after all. (Not that I was ever against it.)

Jessica Alba. Ugh. Another person famous for being pretty. Although I will admit that I love her dress.

So far Josh Brolin and James McAvoy are now my favorites. The dancing was great and the scripted lines weren't painful. What more can I ask for? Are the Coen brothers on downers? Good lord, I have more excitement right now sitting on my couch with my dog alseep on my lap.

Yay for Enchanted! Yay for Amy Adams! Wait ... why is Kristin Chenoweth singing this? Where is Amy Adams? I'm confused. Okay, I love Kristin as much as the next person, and maybe more due to my extreme Wicked obsession, but this should be Amy's moment. The girl can sing--she proved that the first time around. Come on! WTF?

I don't know who the guy with Seth Rogen is, but he's equally funny. Favorite line: "Dude, we look exactly the same." Seriously, who is that guy? (Yay--a win for The Bourne Ultimatum! Their speech is a group effort. Funny.) And I like Seth's tie. (Another win for The Bourne Ultimatum. Something about sound again. Not really sure. I was distracted by the Matt Damon clips.)

Okay, the montage of clips for best actress have been by far the best. Best actress. I'm rooting for Ellen Page, I guess. I haven't seen any of these movies. The Savages looks kind of good. I'm betting it will be Cate Blanchett though. Ooh! It was Marion Cotillard. Okay, it's official. I love everything about her.

I like the song from Once. But it's not "That's How You Know."

Ooh--a montage of all the best picture Oscar winners. I've seen 25 of these movies. Best moment of the night. Loved that they played the theme from Dragonheart over this. I love that score. The best best best.

Another win for the Bourne Ultimatum. Wow! Who knew? Okay, quiet, everyone. Nicole Kidman is up. Hmm. I don't like her necklace thing. I think she's had too much Botox. Disappointing.

Last nominated song. Also from Enchanted. Don't remember it at all. Hmm. Now I understand why I don't remember it. It's boring. At least Amy is twirling in her pretty purple dress. And it was introduced by Patrick Dempsey. That helps.

Okay, they are announcing the winner! Fingers crossed!! Hmm. Once won. Love John Travolta!! Dancing. Ack! Too much!

Beautiful clip of Steven Spielberg winning Schindler's List. I'd never seen it before. Too young. Very touching, moving. I'd love to know who the crying woman in the audience was.

All right. This is why I love Jon Stewart. He's bringing the chick from Once out again to give her speech because she was cut off by the Nazi producers. She was adorable. "Let's have [the Oscars] kiss." "But they're both men." "But this is Hollywood."

In Memoriam. One of my favorite parts. Wouldn't it be great if all occupations had ceremonies that celebrated the memories of people who have died in the last year?

Okay, score one for Atonement. Best original score. SCORE!! (That was for Tara.)

Very moving speech from the short subject chicks.

Harrison Ford!! Wa-hoo!! Juno won best screenplay! Yay!!

Best actor. I'm fine with any of them, really, although Johnny would be nice since he's never won. And, of course, I heart George. But I'm betting on Daniel. Yep. It was Daniel Day Lewis. Ha! Helen Mirren just knighted him with his Oscar.

Best director. I guess I'm rooting for Juno. It's hard to say since I've seen zero of the movies. Joel Cohen and Ethan Cohen won. They were slightly more enthusiastic this time around.

Denzel. With a shaved head. He looks much older with no hair.

Best picture. Come on Atonement!! Or Juno. Or Michael Clayton, I guess. No Country for Old Men won. Damn.

So, to wrap up, I can really ony get excited about Best Actress Marion Cotillard and Best Original Screenplay Diablo Cody. It is now nearly eleven and I'm off to bed.

Mornings

Morning is here, the morning's here ...

Mornings are never a good time for me. I am not what you would call a morning person. I'm convinced this is genetic, and so I blame my mother for this. During my childhood, we were not allowed to speak in the morning becuse it caused my mother physical pain--something I readily agreed to, because, let's face it: there's nothing more annoying than cheerfulness in the morning.

Unfortunately for everyone else in the house, my father is nothing but cheerful in the morning. He likes to hum cheerfully and make small talk and talk nonsense. The two most annoying things he does in the morning are (1) whistle happily and (2) say things like, "Are you up for all day?" to which I usually whine, "It's only 9 o'clock. You can't say that until at least 10:30."

The older I get, the earlier I find myself getting up each morning. Still, my 'early' is another person's 'late', which makes the 6:30 rise-and-shine time of the weekdays especially painful.

I usually wake up before 6 to get the dog up. She eats, goes outside and does her business, and then we both go back to bed for an hour. She curls up in a tiny ball as close to me as she can get without actually being on top of me.

When the alarm (my cell phone) goes off, I hit snooze at least three times, sometimes four. I absolutely canNOT get out of bed without hearing Matt and Meredith's voices, so I turn on the Today Show while still in bed. Once they've previewed the top stories, I drag myself out of bed and brush my teeth while watching Today.

Next I hop in the shower, always swearing to be as fast as possible, but usually standing under the scalding hot water as long as possible. Once I'm out, I slather on some lotion and put on my makeup. I comb my hair and put in mousse if it's a curly hair day. Then I get dressed. Once my hair as had a little time to air dry, I blow dry it and fix it as best I can.

After the hair is finished, I usually need to reapply some undereye concealer (damn you, dark circles!) and then put on my accessories: earrings, watch, scarf, belt, shoes, etc. After a last look in the mirror to make sure I don't look too disgusting or sleepy, I say, "Okay," to the dog still sleeping on the bed, who hops up, tail wagging, and runs to the kitchen. I turn off the TV and the light in the bathroom, and head to the kitchen where the dog is waiting excitedly for her treat. I give her a treat and she hops into her kennel, I turn down the heat, throw my coat on, call good-bye to the dog, swear creatively because it's so late, and rush to the garage.

I like routines and I like this one, but that's not to say I wouldn't enjoy it more if it were happening about four hours later each morning!