Oscar Fan fun: Drinks, Parties and television predictions part of the delight gather.com/ Take a look at an interesting article we found.
Academy Awards 2010: Oscars fever grips Hollywood Daily Express Take a look at an interesting article we found.
Oscar advertisers hope to build buzz on Twitter, Facebook ABC News Take a look at an interesting article we found.
I've gone to my farm in Kentucky for the weekend. It's a great place to relax, do a little hard physical labor, and forget about the rest of the world. If you don't have such a place, I highly suggest you get one.
In the meantime, here's a little something that I found that might reveal the back-story is more interesting than the awards themselves.
See you on Monday.
J. Peterman
From: The New York Post
How to throw an Academy Awards party helium.com Take a look at an interesting article we found.
Actors that Didn't Win the Oscar But Should Have the-top-tens.com/ Take a look at an interesting article we found.
History of the Academy Awards oscars.org Take a look at an interesting article we found.
still thinking about today...
Obviously, the nominees should sit on the aisle. But how long it takes for someone to make it to the stage is only interesting if they trip or go the wrong way.
The Oscar awards are things I shun and giggle about in equal measure. What is awarded, rewarded, is whether a film adheres trenchantly to being middlebrow, to being lowest common denominator. I have never found that paying attention to whether a film or its contributors were Oscar-awarded or -nominated has been helpful for selecting excellent or worthwhile movies.
I think it's safe to say that James Cameron's (he who has famously declared that pan-and-scan display on TV is preferable to letterboxing) worthless artistic vision poses no great-filmmaker threat to anyone, and that Oscar may debase itself to rewarding the "fantasy" genre (have we really come to this?) And yet "The Hurt Locker" in NO way rises to the level of a film that should be highly-prized (have we forgotten how it gives top-billing to Ralph Fiennes, who is on screen for all of 10 minutes and has no relevance to the plot). "Up in the Air" is a superficial, vapid, frivolous movie rife with plot dead-ends, and I am amazed that it was even nominated.
Also, I hope people realize how many dozens of times the entertainment industry has attempted to resurrect 3D. It will slam this time like a lightning bug into the windshield as it always has previously.
I went tonight to see "Shutter Island." A crappy screenplay based on an uninteresting novel. Is the real Martin Scorsese aware that his name is associated with this ludicrous film? I really wish I'd honor the instinct that emerged 15 minutes into this get up and leave.
I have said it here before. We are living right now in an unexpected Golden Age of television, one in which all expectations for artistic achievement have gotten inverted. Theater-going has become a waste of time and money. AMC's "Mad Men" and "Breaking Bad," as but two examples, are better than anything I have seen in current release in a cinema in 10 years. Audiences have become marginally more sophisticated such that they now realize the downwardly mobile genre of reality TV to be as feculent as it really is, and real creativity, good shooting and scripts that cohere are popping up all over television.
Since the shun of Hitchcock and more specifically North by Northwest, I consider the awards to be yet another political event promoting hype over art but if it is an economic/promotional boost to the industry, so be it. As to the red carpet, style is not unadulterated excess but a little panache a la Mr. Peterman. I do respect Jeff Bridges' work and attitude.
Sometimes it seems that only the most popular films and the least controversial actors are recognized. Is the best actress really the one who makes you reach for the box of tissues? But every once in a while we're suprised and a movie like Slumdog Millionaire takes home the prize.
About the only real entertainment value is Joan Rivers worst dressed list.
When I was a teenager my parents had a friend w/ a very eccentric, flamboyant wife. She loved the movies & each year at oscar time she would declare," Tonight I become a gay man!" that's my motto-- I just love all of it & always will.
KSS- agree that the quality of movies has sunk to the depths of h**l for the most part. I ABHOR James Cameron. Check out Kathryn Bigelow's "Blue Steel" W/ Jamie Lee Curtis & the late, great Ron Silver. That is why I seek out foreign films ( & have been disappointed also), but there seems to be a depth & richness, & realness ( & lack of botox) that many, not all of our films lack. And then there are the movies that sear you when you see them & you say, "How, howwwwwwww did this person create this????" I'm thinking of "Sex, Lies, & Videotape", "Sex & Lucia" ( a terrible title, but you , I think, will be blown away by the images in this film. Paz Vega is simply stunning.), "Mostly Martha", "The Starmaker", & almost anything by Pedro Almodovar.
I can't wait to be a gay man tonightttttttttt!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bebe: You ARE an affection ado of films....
Does anyone have Cablevision? Seem to have a bit of a problem with ABC, where the coverage is on tonight. Could be a riot if it goes dark. Time Warner and Fios must be chuckling.
Just my opinion,you understand. Want to get that disclaimer up front. All the hype, all the super-inflated ego, all the fawning, sychophantic behavior is indicative of hollowness. "Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." It's all about greed. There was a time, just about a hundred years ago, when all actors, jongleurs, riverboat gamblers, and salesmen had to be out of town by sunset. I'm in favor of rejuvenating that practice. Such displays of the over-compensated glitterati have become meaningless to the creation of art. One of my favorite films of all time is "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir." Rex Harrison, Gene Tierney, and George Sanders deliver superb performances; the filming is wonderful; they story line is magnificent. A black-and-white classic, tied with "Casablanca" for top film of all time. I love the oldies. Back when a muttered "damn" brought shocked gasps from the audience. Now, it's not considered a good film unless it has half the dialog consisting of profanities and blasphemies. Take the hint, Hollywood. You're the only ones who care. And, it's all about greed.
Bebe: Mmmm, I love it when you talk like that !!!!. All the films you mention are fabulous. Paz Vega is a force of nature and a pheromone queen.
James Cameron was on Charlie Rose last night. I noticed it because he appeared to be wearing the Peterman blue silk shirt until a cutaway, when he came back wearing a black turtleneck. All his porous, vacuous, empty sentences; there's not an iota of intelligence evident in his eyes ("nary a ray of light from the sockets!," to quote Gaston Leroux).
Your gay man line reminds me that I once had a genetically male patient with piecemeal sexuality who had played a number of campy bit parts as a drag queen in Hollywood but had returned to our dismal area. He had once embarked on a plan for sex change but then backed away from this after a long interval on female-hormone therapy. He always came to clinic in a celebratory manner with a feather boa and racy female clothing. Things got a little out of hand one day when he came to clinic but paused in the foyer leading to patient rooms and began a striptease that disclosed ample breasts.
Most days he came to clinic was like a night at the Oscars.
aficionado...need spell check.
what the heck is osc-aritus?!? it seems every talking head today is considering themselves part of the Hollywood pack, with an opinion they think everyone wants to/should hear. BALDERDASH!
They are positively falling over themselves this year, the Heads, worse than others, I agree RY.
I honestly think it's got something to do (or everything) with this "Great Recession" we're enduring. The movies and movie atars' popularity rises to staggeringly high heights during economic downturns, I guess I'm thinking of the last Great downturn which was called a Depression.
Movies offer escape.
Which is a good thing, a wonderful thing, I fall under the cinema's spell as often as I can,
but I wish we could have the films without the Egos.
For me this ego massaging is just nauseating; for a lot of people who really love the Academy Awards (I'm not referring to you bebe) as an evening's escape from a life that's become increasingly difficult to afford these last couple of years -- these folks tend to be truly upset by the people who they adore behaving like the egomaniacs they are.
Too bad the Egos don't know or care to think about this, on their night. I wish they would. There are some folks out there who really admire them, for better or worse -- so would it kill them to continue the magic they created on screen, onto the red carpet and the stage of the awards ceremony?
Of course it wouldn't kill them -- but when you're "king of the world" (Mr. Cameron), why bother? Why not behave like the spoiled genius you think you are?
Modesty is in short supply in Los Angeles on any regular given day. On Oscar Sunday, I have it on good authority that it leaves town completely until the dust settles.
BERT- I like "affectionado"-- I'm going to use it!!! Out of mistakes comes greatness....
KSS-- Paz Vega's father is /was a famous bullfighter in Spain & she is a huge star there. I remember when "Spanglish" came out--- I'll be honest, I never saw it because it looked awful & I remember being outraged that they would introduce such a beautiful, talented woman to American audiences in such dreck. She & Penelope Cruz could blow up the world w/ their beauty & talent. I think James Cameron is probably a genius, but one w/ utterly no heart or soul. I loved the story about your patient-- for someone like that to be so open & so free & face emotional torture from others, all I can say is, "Rock On!" There are so many people who live in the shadows.
PARK- you are so correct-- modesty is just really important. Modesty, manners, tact ( which I wish I had more of)-- these 3 attributes lead us thru this crazy life w/ some grace.
Jeff Bridges seems like such a person. Helen Hunt is another. Renee Zellwegger ( while not my favorite actress -- she seems kind & low key), the late Paul Newman, Gena Rowlands, there are others who have money & fame, but have not lost their dignity & modesty.
If you proclaim yourself to be, "the king of the world"---you are, excuse my crudeness, a tool......
As I ponder all the hoo-haa that traditionally surrounds the Oscar Ceremonies, I'm again reminded of all the inconsistencies of my nature.
On the one hand I'm somewhat reluctant to admit that sometimes I actually enjoy and entertained by watching shows like the Oscars, meaning I guess that I think it's kinda weird watching a show that is simultaneously focused on an industry that seeks to pat itself on the back and honor itself as extravagantly as possible while at the same time trying to appear humble by being the butt of bad jokes and rude comments about how bad some of them look in designer dresses that cost more than my car.
I do appreciate the attempts to weigh and measure that which is so subjective and honor those that are deemed the best in their category.
I somehow resent it when ‘they' tell me if what I may have thoroughly enjoyed was any good or not; which naturally means I don't really value the role of film critics when they assume to filter out/pre-determine which movie I should or shouldn't see.
I assume that means when you flip the coin that defines my nature it's turns out something like this: heads - I'm too easy to please, tails - I'm can be very stubborn.
Anyroads - Last Friday we went out to see the new 3D HD Version of ‘Alice in Wonderland' which many experts basically said was short of expectations whereas I was just as happy as a clam watching it. Happily jumping down the rabbit hole to see what I could see.
Tonight I'm taking my sons out to dinner and a movie which I'm almost certain, even without listening to anyone else's expert opinion, I will enjoy the experience. I'll just strap myself in and enjoy the ride when the lights go dim and the screen comes to life.
Maybe that is how I should approach watching a show like the Oscars, just strap myself in and enjoy the ride. Be more willing to acquire the taste. That is, after all, how I learned to love broccoli.
Peace out everyone - it's free popcorn refills on thesepia train tonight. We'll be showing whatever your favorite movie happens to be without anyone else knowing what it is, unless of course it just happens to be the same one as your. And as always, if you just prefer the view outside, there's always a seat for you.
And yes...... enjoy the show ....... I know I will
Sadly I am shallow enough to love to watch the Academy Awards show -- does it mean much? Not to me it doesn't but isn't it good entertainment? And wouldn't it be neat to see Sandra Bullock, who won a Razzie for the worst performance win an Oscar for the best? It's fun to watch them; some just melt into oblivion after winning and some are refreshingly modest.......some.
Since losing my hearing, I don't go to the movies any more so I haven't seen any of the pictures nominated. Some I will eventually get on DVD so that I can have closed captioning, but I still like to root for my favorites and boo at the bad guys.
As I said, great entertainment.
Andy - ther's not a shallow bone in your body. It's all good!
A tool.
bebe, you are so funny!
And Andy, enjoy the Oscars, I'm glad you do, and will.
I didn't mean people who watch them are shallow. Oh me and my mouth and my foot. I don't know what I meant. My virtual mouth runneth over, I guess.
Maybe I'll watch them. Unless they show too many shots of James Cameron pretending not to care. Actually that might be entertaining, at that.
I like Meryl Streep, and she isn't going to win this time, but it's gracious and talented people like her who make the Awards show worth watching for me. Sharon Stone said in some magazine's issue last month (Vanity Fair or Vogue or ?) that "Meryl Streep looks like an unmade bed." Meow. Hiss. Scratch. And Stone's ego is legendary, so she'll be there, avoiding Ms. Streep and her 16th nomination...
Well. For someone (me) who says she doesn't give a dam about the Academy Awards or actors, I do seem to know a bit too much about what's going on with it, than I should, if I were being honest with myself -- and you.
So, who knows?
If Bravo isn't running Law and Order, it might just be ABC for me tonight.
As long as they keep the camera off Cameron! -- until his ex-wife gets the award for "Hurt Locker, which she will. And he won't for "Avatar"...she'll get the little gold guy, and James will have none, hahaha)
I'm feeling feisty all of a sudden.
Bring on Oscar.
PeterLake, your comment is great. I really like it -- probably because it sounds so much like me.
I don't like to be told what I like, or that I shouldn't like something, or should -- I can be so easily pleased, but I am enormously stubborn when ruffled.
Enjoy your dinner and a movie, and thanks for the popcorn on thesepia train. I'm hauling it a case of beer, root and real. And blankets.
It's customary to watch the Academy Awards sitting/laying on the floor, wrapped in a quilt or blanket that's too big, so you can hide your head from the sight of someone embarrassing themselves on the stage. Like Jack Palance did, with the one armed push ups, oh my...
Meet you in the newly refurbished (!) Thesepia Train Academy Award Watching Car. It's near the Men's Room and the Ladies' Room (yes they're separate) in case anybody's got a weak stomach.
see you there...
cuukoo, the window seat in thesepia train now has your name on it. On a small bronze plaque on its back.
All it needs is you in it...
Up for an awards show tonight?
Be there, or be...you know.
;)
Bebe: You go girlfriend! I can't believe someone else saw Sex and Lucia. Paz Vega is under rated, maybe because she doesn't do enough stuff without subtitles. She was in a series on Spanish t.v. when she was younger and she is really good. I think was "Menudo es mi papi" or something unexpected like that. If you understand Spanish you might get a kick out of it.
What Peter Lake and Park4 think. Though I'll let y'all in on a little secret we discovered: on Channel 17 (Chicago, so it must be near John and Stoney) at 8 every SUnday, you can see two reruns of The Bob Newhart SHow -- the one in Vermont. I never miss. Tonight I may peek at Oscar (I love even seeing Meryl Streep, let alone watching her act), enjoy thesepia train and John, my favorite pastime, flip over to Newhart...depending on who's doing what on Oscar...and back to Newhart.
cuukoo, I'm glad you are well and among us.
Stoney, oh, I ache for you dealing with that situation. You'll straightenh it out, but be annoyed (and not even show it, that's how you are) in the process. And you can lie to me anytime.
See you in the club car -- whatever would we do, be without John and his lovely imagination? Worse offr, that's what.
thank you Peter and Parke -- I will
I AM A GAY MANNNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My new name for tonight is Reinaldo.
PARK--- Why would Sharon Stone say something soo idiotic???? It's so hard to fathom. The opening red carpet little interview are, for the most part, rather cringe inducing. Sherry Shepard & Kathey Ireland- not the brightest bulbs in the sockets....
I too enjoy Meryl- she has a life & seems to enjoy the great absurdity of her situation -- same w/ George Clooney. Plus she always looks great.
GEORGIA-- I used to love watching The Bob Newhart show. Nobody did it better than him. And Suzanne Pleshette--- what a woman. My dad used to say she was all woman.
PARK-- Meryl is on & she looks fantastic!!!!
JULIA-- I'm so happy you know about "Sex & Lucia"---- I love you doubly now.
park thank you!...i've been snoozing in the warm sunshine all afternoon in the seat by the window. i'll be there!!! peter lake, i bet there will be some rock skippin in the moonlite waters off the caboose. see you all soon!
CUUKOO-- I am Reinaldo. I have heard things about you; good things, wonderful things. People love you, people have missed you.
"& dance by the light of the moon......."
Bebe: Yeah, I'm always a hit with the gay men. I used to pick them up at the ballet barre.
Nice tribute to John Huges.
A gift certificate to whomever can identify that stain on the red carpet.....I jest. I have not watched any of it. I have a life, and, recorded episodes of Dr Who,saved for such an event as this(or satalite outages{or even power outages)for which I have reading materials and battery lighting.And back up power.And food. I'm sorry, I hate to be a wet blanket for all those that love the awards; My Mom really looks forward to them. (gosh, I hope that isn't the reason I find them insipid)...I do like Newheart.
RY-- ok, I get that you don't care about the Oscars-- my husband doesn't either, but he's amusing me & letting me comment on everything.
You have a life????????????????????????????
Really???????? So do I!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You're not a wet blanket-- you're a sopping sham-wow...............
JULIA-- I agree!
Bebe~on my way to Dr Who, I noticed I had some Possum Lodge-Red Green...I laughed so hard that I almost had an accident. Sophmoric? slightly...funny? to me they are. Sham wow? Are you saying I am usefull when needed? I will take that as the compliment I need for tonight's limit....like best in sham-wow catagory...."and the sour grapey goes to MMEEEEEE...." "I want to thank all the little people that helped make this possible....all the leprechauns from area 6..."
Bebe~on my way to Dr Who, I noticed I had some Possum Lodge-Red Green...I laughed so hard that I almost had an accident. Sophmoric? slightly...funny? to me they are. Sham wow? Are you saying I am usefull when needed? I will take that as the compliment I need for tonight's limit....like best in sham-wow catagory...."and the sour grapey goes to MMEEEEEE...." "I want to thank all the little people that helped make this possible....all the leprechauns from area 6..."
There are important films like Hurt Locker...and personal favorites like Miller's Crossing, but no award tops being the mom of my two children...
Tonight I learned something else about Oscar: his last name is Meyer, and he goes great with mustard and relish.And a pickle ain't bad on the side.
GOOD ON YOU PENN .......
RY--- What is Possum Lodge Red- Green? beer? i'm so confused. You have the last laugh because I satyed up for the whole thing thing & look a rode hard, put up horse....
That would be stayed...
I haven't seen any of the movies, but I'm all for awards. There are politics in everything in life, and where you sit isn't as cool as being nominated or winning. I've had a couple of Emmy nominations (local not national) and it felt pretty darned good. I sat near the back so I'm sure I would have had great coverage of my walk to the podium (had I won) and I wouldn't have cared at all if I'd tripped!
I have always loved the Academy Awards. I've watched them live, without fail, since 1982 when Gandhi took home the big prize. I am well aware of the politics, the failings, the egregious oversights, the unbearable pandering, and all the other problems to which other people object. The objections are perfectly valid and the competition is frankly silly. I don't care. I love them anyway. I throw an Oscar-watching party every year and this was no exception.
Here is my take on the proceedings:
Well, I've never been so delighted to be wrong. Avatar was set to become the worst movie ever to win Best Picture and was soundly trumped by The Hurt Locker. It was a splendid surprise in an evening that held very few ot those. How poetic (if a bit obvious) to have Barbra Streisand announce Best Director on the evening the first woman won the prize.
The smart money was on Bigelow. Academy voters love feminist politics and the ability to say "We made history" and the time had come. It is a bit strange that in the era of Streisand, Nancy Meyers, Nora Ephron, Penny Marshall, Gillian Armstrong, Jane Campion, Sophia Coppola, Lena Wertmuller, and many others, the first woman to win Best Director wound up being... Kathryn Bigelow. I say this with no disrespect toward a very talented lady who made a fine film but whose body of work does not tend to put her name on most people's lips (especially when we consider the list above) when you say "Quick! Name a great female director!" But good for her. I hope to see more good work from her in the feature.
Oh, how I miss Johnny Carson! This is the third time Steve Martin has hosted the Oscars. He was tempered by Alec Baldwin but it wasn't enough. The next time anyone asks Martin to host, I will shoot myself. His one genuinely funny joke was when he said, "The show's been so long, Avatar now takes place in the past." The rest of the time, it was standard Martinesque insults and jabs, disguised as humor. Nasty without being funny. You know you're in trouble when Alec Baldwin comes across as the sensitive, tactful one.
As for the contests themselves, the major categories were predictable but delightful. Jeff Bridges' victory gave him the chance to use words like "groovy" in his speech. His poignant acknowledgement of his father, the late great Lloyd Bridges, served as a reminder that, if he had won the award before it became so long overdue (1998's The Big Lebowski anyone?), the old man could have been in the audience to watch his son pick up the Oscar and Jeff's eyes would not have needed to be cast heavenward when saying the word, "Dad".
On the flip side, we have The Blind Side's Sandra Bullock, an attractive enough movie star but no one's idea of a great actress who just happened to be better than she'll ever be again in a movie that was also much better than it had any business being. Of the Best Picture nominees, it was the least my style of the bunch and I'm still reeling in shock at just how much I liked it anyway. Meryl Streep will have many more chances to become the fifth actor in history to pick up more than two Oscars but Bullock will never be this great again. So I don't begrudge her the opportunity to seize the glory while it's there.
Anyone who's been watching the Golden Globes, the SAG Awards, or any of the other pre-Oscar run-ups could accurately predict the Supporting winners and there were no surprises there. Stand-up comic, Mo'nique had been unrecognizable as Precious' mother from hell (who isn't a sucker for comedians getting serious?) and Christoph Walt's equally villainous performance as Tarantino's Nazi officer contrasted monumentally with the sweet gentleman who always gives such flowery and poetic thank you speeches that would sound phony and pretentious in anyone else's mouth but that he carries off with charming aplomb.
While the neck & neck competition between Avatar and The Hurt Locker made for a suspenseful night, everyone knew they both had a chance. The biggest all-out upset of the evening came in the comparatively obscure category of Best Animated Short. I had my money on the beloved Nick Park's fourth Wallace & Gromit movie, A Matter of Loaf and Death. The claymation depictions of the intrepid inventor and his brainy dog had already been to the Oscars three times before, winning this category twice with The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave, and then winning Best Animated Feature with The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. But they were upset by Logorama, a movie about which I admittedly know nothing.
I have no patience for people who kvetch all through the Oscars (if you don't like them, don't watch them) but, even for die-hard fans like myself, there is always the odd complaint. The horror movie montage was out of place, the interpretive dance performance for the Best Score nominees was distracting as hell, and the omission of Farrah Fawcett from the memoriam section was downright egregious. However, my biggest gripe was the big to-do about 10 nominees for Best Picture. As I do every year, I made a point of seeing them all before the big night rolled around and that was a lot of fun. During the ceremony, much was made about the fact that the last time there had been 10 nominees was the year of Casablanca (The Hurt Locker was a fine movie but Casablanca it ain't). But the problem with 10 Best Picture nominees is that the introducing of all those clips does become monotonous. Even for me. They cut out the performances of the Best Song nominees and didn't even show any visual clips for the Best Cinematography nominees ( ! ) in order to make room and make time for the double load of top honors. Considering that it was only ever a two-horse race anyway, it just wasn't worth it.
So, all in all, not the best Oscar ceremony (that will always be 1995 when Christopher Reeve showed up) but certainly not the worst (that will always be 1988 with the infamous Rob Lowe/Snow White opening number). I'll be hosting my usual party next year.
DPR: Good On You, Friend !!! Sad to say, I have never thought Steve Martin was funny, even tho' he is a Texas Boy ... but he is a Fair to Middlin' Banjo Picker ... Not a big Alec Baldwin Fan either, but I'd rather have to look at and listen to him than Martin thinking he is funny ... The only thing Martin has ever done that I thought he did rather well in was, ROXANNE ... but I guess even a blind Hog finds an acorn every now and then ... (I would have preferred Robin Williams in the Role)
Great Assessment DPR !!!
DPR--- Really, really enjoyed your take on things. I just totally revel in the Oscars. it's my Superbowl, my Olympics. I do think sandra Bullock seems like such a lovely person that you can't help but root for her. her speech was charming. Jeff Bridges- he is a national treasure. I have a soft spot for the movie he did w/ Jane Fonda way back when where she played an over the hill, almost B actress. Plus, how can you not love a man who has been w/ his wife forever?
I thought Mo'Nique's speech was strange & hit a false note. The woman who ran onto the stage & interrupted the guy during his speech--- are these people not taught manners? Is something emotionally wrong w/ them??? The modern dance number- cringe inducing. And yes, what is it about Steve Martin --- he seems very acid tinged & not charming. I did see "It's Complicated" & it looked as if he had some weird plastic surgery & his face was distorted. Demi Moore was shockingingly bizarre looking. Alec baldwin is just so d**n funny. Ben Stiller is completely overrated-- I don't get his schtick.
Anyway, thanks for letting me into your Oscar party. I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved it!!!!