I have had an Academy Awards night party for each of the three springs that I have been in the white-wall apartment on the Ridge. Since Otis and I are townhome-bound, last night's fete was the last of its kind: Don't Miss a Minute, Don't Miss a Pixel, and this year's Evening Wear Extravaganza and Pajama Party! will form the complete canon of White Wall Oscar Parties. And we went out with a bang!
Some old pals were unable to make it this year, so a shout out to them, and some new faces graced the Ridge: Silvio, downstairs Cat, Kris-10 & Rye-N, and Hi-Lai & Welcome Matt were all in attendance for the first time. Mighty Mel made a repeat and MaryBee returned after a year off. And, of course, the hardcore, three-peat perennials were there: Invisible Adam, Dingo, JJ, Johnbai, Linda S, Sunni-V, and J-Force.
Phasers were set on snark, and the show provided suitable fodder. There were no egregiously bad outfits, except for Charlize Theron's shoulder-poof gown, so the crowd good-naturedly mocked displays of emotion, failing careers, bad incidental dialog, boring acceptance speeches, and the representation of movie plots through interpretative dance. Lots of people on the show looked pretty haggard - what the heck is going on in Hollywood these days? Favorite moments were Dolly Parton's professional turn highlighting one of the nominated songs (sans dancers) and a captivating tribute to Robert Altman from Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin. Consensus was that Jon Stewart did a creditable job (I thought his best line was the subtle dig at the Baldwin brothers).
Much food of the Mexican variety was munched and no one retreated to the Oscarfrei Bereich in the bedroom.
As far as the awards themselves went, it was good that Dingo was keeping track, because no one really cared. Other than Johnbai's slow burn every time Crash won something, there were no big responses. There was no sweep, nothing outrageous, and, as JJ said, not many movies that really mattered. The spread between Most Correct Guesses and Shooting the Moon was the lowest ever: 12 out of 25 for the best predictor and 6 out of 25 for the worst. Go figure.
There was no universal formal portaiture this year, but here's a selection of shots, mostly from Otis:
Floor-length kilt? Kaftan? Jawa-wear?
Cheery Otie kicks the night off!
JJ, winner of best formalwear, looking resplendent in polka dots
Prizewinner Sunni-V, in his Brokeback Mountain get-up
J-Force put a lock on the best jammie prize by wearing three ensembles throughout the night!
Grand Poobah Predictor Hi-Lai got camera-shy at the last moment, but left a trace of tiara
Dingo, the fingerless massage therapist, took booby-prize for least correct guesses
-- on purpose, yeah, that's the ticket!
MaryBee has monkey-feet!
Despite their Crash-ing differences, Mel and Johnbai maintained both Oscar amity and comity
(photo retouched by an old Irishman on a train...)
Mesmerized by the white wall!
And so a chapter ends, and another begins. See y'all next year!
2 comments:
The Oscars are what I miss most (well lots) about being in Spain. If I can get someone to tape them for me from Spanish pay TV, they're voiced over, not dubbed. Very annoying, as you can constantly and simultaneously hear and be distracted by the English and desperately tired/bored/confused Spanish commentators and their translations.
Bleck!
I was sorry to miss it, but there in spirit. I did hear in the morning that Crash one, and I burned and fumed for a while about that. My favorite movies of the year were: Wallace and Grommet, Sin City, Batman Begins, Good Night and Good Luck, and the Sign of Zorro. And maybe even Mr. and Mrs. Smith. I'm excited about the casting of Daniel Craig as James Bond. I don't know him much, but all the right people seem to be shocked by it.
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