Obligatory Oscar Thoughts

...don't worry, this is not a critique
I won't lie. I love the Oscars. I remember watching as a child and thinking one day that will be me there. As I got older I stopped chasing fame and set my eyes on a bigger prize, happiness. I still have warm feeling though about wanting to be in the movies. The thought of putting together all of the elements required to make a great movie is outstanding. I performed in one movie, a low budget comedy with Judy Tenuta. I wasn't very good but the process was interesting to watch. The job as an actor in a movie can be a bit tedious if you are not the lead or supporting actor. You wait around...a lot. Everything has to be set just right. The lights have to be focused. The sound has to work. The camera has to be set and so many other details.

Blah Blah Blah. I almost started to bore myself. Let's talk about The 77th Annual Academy Awards. I will lead with a positive. Mom called me as I was working on the poster design for "Straight & Nappy". She wanted me to turn on the television and see Beyonce in her black dress on the red carpet. My mother doesn't normally call to give me a must-see-tv-fashion call. I figured I will check out the dress. Wow! That Beyonce certainly knows how to serve it up. She looked great all night long. Then Star Jones Reynolds starts talking so I turned down the sound. I later took in some priceless bits at the party.

I was ready when Dawn and Luis arrived earlier than expected. My outfit was not completely working for me because I didn't have the right jacket. I improvised with another jacket because of the pants. The pants were great but I couldn't really hold things in my pocket without looking obscene or being a total fashion victim.

We headed to Evanston to celebrate at the home of a famous American Stage Director and his lovely wife. And their kids are so cute. You know when you buy a wallet or a picture frame and their are pictures of these really cute white kids? Well these kids look better. And they have great personalities too.

Most of the usual suspects were in attendance although Sarah was missing. Kate ran all things technical. The famous American Stage Director and the Mother Of The Cute Kids had lovely wine and delicious food including this Butternut Squash soup that was warm liquid goodness. The desserts were all sweet. The TiVo had been set so we could take our time and watch the show commercial free and skip speeches we didn't care about. Come on, like we're the only ones that think that?

$5 got you a chance to win the pot if you could guess the most winners. We all filled out our ballots. Everyone had their own systems. I had my own system. I followed the buzz. I saw a few of the films but not all. I didn't see any of the documentaries but you can bet if it is about the holocaust or children, it is usually a shoe-in. Other categories just seemed obvious from the critics. The moment my ballot landed in the pink bowl I felt remorse. I thought I was going to do pretty well but I still had some regrets. I knew that Sideways would win "Best Adapted Screenplay" but I still voted for Million Dollar Baby. I wasn't sure how far the Million Dollar Baby sweep was going to go. I also erred on "Best Picture." I thought The Aviator might take it, I was wrong.

We gathered in the entertainment room and started with some E! Red Carpet coverage. Thank goodness for TiVo. The coverage is bad. I liked it better when we didn't have the tv red carpet hoopla. Just give us the highlights later. Once we sped through the carpet coverage, we watched the big show. As I stated before, I won't critique the show. Everyone is doing it and I feel rebellious.

I'll say this, I had a wonderful time hanging out with great people. We made snarky comments throughout the whole program and our hosts' always know how to make a cozy nice time.

BTW, I lost the Oscar pool by one vote. That's right, one, ein, uno. Damn you Sideways.