Oscar

A few notes on last night's Oscar telecast then probably some random babbling.

First, am I the only person who's shedding no tears over Baba Wawa's hanging up the steps after 29 interview shows? I have never understood the woman's appeal. If we consider asking Ricky Martin about his sexuality hard hitting journalism then OK. But I just don't get it. Please go quietly into that dark dark night, Barbara. I realize tradition dies hard but she's almost as painful for me to watch as Dick Clark at this point.

And now for the obligatory style points. I don't claim to be Mr. Blackwell or any fashion plate myself but...Who dresses some of these people? Since I do know a little bit about men's formal wear (based on my three years working in the schmata business and my yearlong senior year gig as sales representative of Nick's formal wear during which I wore tuxedos to school every day. And no you can't see any of those pictures) I'll start with the men.

I wasn't taking notes so forgive my not knowing the fellow's name but let's just call him "That tall sound effect guy who clearly picked up the wrong tux at the cleaners then didn't know how to dress himself". You know the one I mean. Black tail coat with a vest six inches too short and no cufflinks. How do you not stop at the Circle K for a pair of cufflinks when you see your cuffs flapping in the breeze. I really felt for the guy. He was only the most glaring example of the truth that you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him tie his tie correctly.

As for the ladies, well, I'll just say there were a lot more gowns that made me say Hmmm? than those that made me say, wow! At least there were no Cherlike, or Swanlike costumes to really heap ridicule and scorn upon.

Now for the awards themselves I didn't see all ten nominated films. Did anyone? But I did see Avatar and Hurt Locker. Now usually I'd step up on the artsy fartsy platform and applaud the "serious" film's multiple victories. But I have to say I really thought Avatar got gypped. Backlash against all its box office success? Anger over the way Jim Cameron treated Kathryn Bigelow? I dunno. All I know is I personally thought Avatar was the superior film. I do think Bigelow's victory (for femaledom)  is way overdue. So congratulations to her.

As for the acting awards I haven't seen Precious (based on the novel whatever by whoever) or Crazy Heart. I loved the Nazi in Inglourious Basterds and also thought the joke about him was the best of the night. BTW, could someone fill me in on all the Hitler/Meryl Streep references? Also happy for Sandra Bullock though she knows as well as I she can't carry Streep's compact case.

Finally the first production number with Doogie Howser worked for me. Some excellent jokes in there that seemed to go right over the audience's head. The last one with the dancers (spotlighting the musical scores) was amazing. And I somehow liked the combination of Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin. I can't figure out whether Baldwin's sliminess is good slimy or bad.

All in all an entertaining show. It served its purpose in my case. I saw lots of smidges of films I want to see now. So let's all go to the movies.

And to hell with any further babbling. I've babbled enough. For the foreseeable future I expect I'll only update or post about once every two weeks since in the intervening week I'm feeling like crap. Until the chemo is over!