not just about gay mens and womens

[rivendellrose]

My entirely random thoughts on the 78th annual Academy Awards:

First off, may I just say that I love Jon Stewart? Such a funny, funny man. George Clooney rocks (and it is generally agreed that everyone's mother (except nekokoban's) has a crush on him). WETA also rocks, and it is slightly frightening to me that after all the Oscar shows and behind-the-scenes specials and such, I can pick Richard Taylor and other folks from PJ's production team out of a crowd. Also, I love that they all thanked Andy Serkis... who is a genius of physical acting. The production team for "March of the Penguins" is adorable, partially because they each brought stuffed emperor penguins onstage with them, and partially because they were just so very... French. And I'm not sure why, but the light of god just kind of randomly shone down upon Morgan Freeman during their presentation. We all agreed that this is probably a factor of normal daily life for him, and well-earned.

I think I said "I need to see that movie" more often in the last five hours than I have in the past year. Particularly regarding "Mrs Henderson Presents," "Goodnight and Good Luck," "Memoirs of a Geisha" for the prettiness, and "Pride and Prejudice," again, for the prettiness. I hold firm that it will never live up to the BBC production, however, and no that's not purely because I can't stand Keira Knightley. Although that certainly doesn't help.

As usual, I pegged all the technical stuff, and then bombed on pretty much everything else. Still, not bad for having seen hardly any of the nominated movies.

zinjadu might be interested to know that I counted Jewish jokes for her - there were five, most of which were told by Jon Stewart.

Random moments: For no reason other than that I found it irresistable to do so, I waved at Viggo Mortensen both times he appeared in the background of clips from "History of Violence." I was apparently wise to say that I would eat a hat (as opposed to my hat, which I love dearly) if "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" won Best Original Song, as... it did. I am still appalled. But I am more appalled that the camera men felt it necessary to get reaction shots from every African-American in the audience other than Morgan Freeman after it won. It's sad that I feel it necessary to note that I in no way dislike this song for anything related to racial factors. It's just that I don't like hip-hop, and wouldn't have liked it any better if it it was a bunch of loud white boys singing it. If that makes me non-PC... I don't know what to say. Other than that it was apparently a damned slow year for original songs in cinema.

Anyway, yay. Much fun, much good food, much silliness had by all, and thanks to Sienna for putting up with all of us.

Oh, and lastly? I may have understood my first actual phrase in normal-context Mandarin tonight. o_O Just kind of listened to the end of Ang Lee's speech... then did a mental double-take as I realized I'd caught something I recognized in there. A bit embarassing, but I'm oddly pleased, too.

Comments

[seachanges.livejournal.com]

Hey, I have a crush on George Clooney, and I'm hardly old enough to be your mother. *g* Loved his acceptance speech, he's such a classy man.

I was rooting for Dolly Parton's song from TRANSAMERICA to get the Best Song Oscar. Like you, I wasn't thrilled about the pimp song, though I was touched by Queen Latifah's genuine delight when she opened the envelope and made the announcement.

I remember thinking to myself, "Why on earth is Keira Knightly even nominated for Best Actress? Were they one short and drew her name at random out of a hat?" She annoys me so very, very much. I was glad Reese Witherspoon got it instead. I haven't seen WALK THE LINE yet, but from what I understand, both she and Joaquin Phoenix are outstanding.

As for Best Director and Best Picture ... I cheered when Ang Lee got Best Director, but was wholly unsurprised when BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN got snubbed for Best Picture. It's a political thing. They did it to Stephen Spielberg for SAVING PRIVATE RYAN in 1998. He got the Best Director award and then SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE took home Best Picture. This year, the Academy was too chickenshit to give BROKEBACK the Best Picture award, so they gave it to CRASH which was a "safer" movie, and gave Lee the Best Director award as a consolation prize.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Sure, there are tons of people who have crushes on George Clooney - but when you have eight people in a room and discover that 7 of their 8 mothers have crushes on this one person... it does start to seem significant. ;) And 'classy' was definitely the word for that speech. Such poise.

I figured the song from "Crash" would win, but I did like Dolly Parton's song. Could've been happy with either. You're right, though, that Queen Latifah's reaction almost made it worthwhile. She's so adorable.

*g* Ohhhh yes. I think my exact words were, "please, anybody but Keira Knightley. I get in trouble for this every time the subject of her comes up (one of my housemates has an insane crush on her, despite otherwise being a sane and entirely pleasant guy), but I just plain cannot stand her. And since nothing less than an incarnation of male divinity could take the place of Colin Firth as Darcy, in my mind... this new version of "Pride and Prejudice" just doesn't stand a chance, for me.

Lee definitely deserved recognition as a director (for crying out loud, pretty much everything he's done has been amazing, from what I've seen), and I've heard a lot of good things about "Crash," so I think it probably deserved the same. I have a thing against depressing movies (I'm such a weenie), so I haven't actually seen "Brokeback"... but I would tend to agree that there's political shit going on there. Totally stupid political shit, I'd say, but that's typical of politics. This seemed, generally, like a highly political year for the Oscars. Not that they aren't usually, but it seemed more noticeable this year than usual.

[seachanges.livejournal.com]

I do not understand why men are so enamored of Keira Knightley. She's scrawny. She whines. She's shallow and vapid. Every performance she does sounds exactly like the last one. The only thing that changes are the costumes and her lines. I just don't get it.

Colin Firth will always be the quintessential Mr Darcy, the way the late Jeremy Brett will always be the quintessential Sherlock Holmes. Other men may play the part, but they will never touch that performance. Ever.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

I don't either, but I expect some of my celebrity crushes confuse people the same way, so... *Shrugs* I've heard from a few people that she made a good Elizabeth, but I really have no idea.

Exactly - there are some actors who just pin a role and can't ever be replaced in the minds of the people who know that version. Colin Firth was just a perfect choice for Darcy. That whole production was pretty much perfect, as far as I was concerned - this one looked very pretty in terms of the sets and the like, but otherwise... meh, I'll stick with the old standard, thanks. *g*

[storydivagirl.livejournal.com]

My mother loves George Clooney as an actor, but hates him for his evil "liberal" ways. So of course, I must marry him just to drive her crazy. I mean, it would be a hardship for me and all, but you do what you must.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Of course! See, I don't think he's all that attractive, but the 'evil liberal ways' definitely make me love him.

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

His evil liberal ways???

[storydivagirl.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my mother is a crazy Republican and she thinks that George Clooney should not point out all the things are President does that aren't on the level. Therefore, he is an evil liberal (then again, so am I, so what can you do?)

[narsilion.livejournal.com]

silly Mom!

[ratzeo.livejournal.com]

That's not actually the camera operators' fault. There are tons of camera operators, and they are all assigned to specific people. Most of the high profile people have a camera on them the entire show. It is actually the editors who choose which shots get aired, not the grunts.

[rivendellrose.livejournal.com]

Whoops, clearly writing when I was too damned tired - I know it's not the actual guys behind the camera who make those decisions. If I'd been more awake, yes, I'd have said that the editors are definitely the ones to blame for that.