Oscar Results

Well my scheme for randomly guessing Oscar picks shockingly did not work. I finished with 11 out of 24 correct. The Oscar party went a little bit better. Some year I think I will make it a black-tie affair and have black-tie dinner and snack options. This was not the year to do that though so I stuck with the all-American movie junk food. We started off with Nachos for dinner (we threw on some tomatoes and onions to trick ourselves into thinking we were eating healthy) and then moved on to peanut butter cups, kisses, and candy-coated chocolate eggs, popcorn, and Pringles. And just in case that wasn't enough we had Ghirardelli brownies (warm out of the oven) topped with ice cream. For my part, I think I demonstrated incredible restraint and had 1 candy-coated chocolate egg, 5 mini peanut butter cups, 1 Pringle chip, and 1 brownie with 2 small scoops of ice cream--and I held my restraint despite the fact that all these foods were hanging around me all night (4 hours!).

So anyway back to the Oscars. I thought there were several really lovely dresses worn by the ladies but I don't feel like I can pick a favorite quite yet as I didn't watch very much of the red carpet. There were several really nice acceptance speeches--and by nice I mean short. And it finished 15 minutes early!!! On the downside, I really didn't enjoy it since I had seen only a few of the movies and really couldn't get excited over any of the wins. I remember a day (back when I was young) when I had actually seen several of the movies nominated and could hope for certain outcomes. Lately it seems that Hollywood it intent on celebrating the sick and twisted and overly violent themes in movies that I just don't want to allow into my life as entertainment. Aren't we sick enough as a society without celebrating the recreation of it on the big screen? And that is not to say that certain "sick" themes shouldn't be explored such as the holocaust and the like, but to explore those themes in a respectful and insightful way is a far cry from what is being produced and shoveled out on us today. Sorry I am now climbing off my soap box. But before I get off it entirely let me present you with my winners from movies that I actually saw this year.

Best Supporting Actress: Amanda Bynes (Hairspray) (a little bit by default since I couldn't think of anyone else, but she was lovely in the role.)

Best Supporting Actor: Albert Finney (Amazing Grace)

Best Actress: Hillary Swank (Freedom Writers)

Best Actor: Ioan Gruffudd (Amazing Grace)

Best Movie: Freedom Writers

Best Song: Baby Don't You Cry (The Pie Song) by Quincy Coleman & Andrew Hollander (Waitress)

So technically I think some (maybe all) of these would not have qualified for this year's Oscars because of release dates, but I saw them this year in the theaters so as far as I am concerned they are this year's winners. Who are yours?