oscars

Snow kept me from the full-blown Oscars party I prefer, but we still had a family affair last night, complete with Martinellis, brownie pudding cake, and a close race for the coveted Oscar the Grouch hat. (In the end, DC and I tied, but I gave her the win, since she managed to pick best picture.) A few thoughts on the broadcast: I didn’t miss a host at all. The opening number with Queen was snazzy, though Adam Lambert is no Freddie Mercury. I definitely didn’t miss the lame running gags. In a show that runs over three hours, do

I watched the Oscars last night, and I enjoyed the show, as usual. (Though, sadly, I didn’t win this year’s Oscar hat. That honor went to another, though it was a nail biter, coming down to a last minute pivot from Three Billboards to Shape of Water to go big or go home.) But on Friday, I went to a great presentation at my university all about the politics of the Oscars, and the question came up multiple times: how much do the Oscars matter? In one sense, this is a question that doesn’t really have any significance. The awards

It’s too bad for Jimmy Kimmel, really. Up until that gigantic blunder at the end of the show, I thought the production had gone quite well. Kimmel had kept things interesting and entertaining. The speeches had been fine. The winners were spread around a fair bit, so it didn’t feel like any one show was dominating too much. People didn’t clap in the middle of the In Memoriam segment. Sure, the Moana singer got hit in the head with a flag, but that’s life, right? I was really enjoying myself, and I thought it was one of the better shows

First, let’s get the painful bit out of the way: I didn’t win my Oscar pool, meaning that yet again, I am without the Hat. Who did win? Betsey Hyde for the SECOND YEAR IN A ROW. (Well, her son Nick tied for first as well, but we gave the tie breaker to Betsey, since Nick was attending remotely.) (And while I took a picture of the winner in the hat, it was a particularly late night, and I’ve decided to spare her the picture this year. Maybe I’m getting soft in my old age.) I tried really hard this