The Oscars

My cousin, Cindy, commented on FB that I'm the only one she knows who watches The Oscars. That's surprising.  Course I know a ton of people who have zero interest in the awards but I know quite a few who tune in.  I used to watch all the award shows but some are avoided now as they're just too teflon-covered and predictable.  Like the Peoples' Choice Awards and the Country Music Awards.  I still like a lot of country music but most of my really hardcore favorites are from the "over the hill gang."

It's 4:30 a.m. and I've been up for an hour.  I am tired, though, so I'm hoping a little blogging will help bring on sleep.  I surfed my usual websites and found little of interest so at least when I get up a second time later this morning, I can get right to ancestry searching.  I spent a lot of time hunting for Charlie Blankenship with no success so I'm going to switch gears and go hunting for my great grandmother's family (Downs) out of Delaware.  My clues include a copy of a letter her sister, Henrietta, wrote her back in the late 1890's.  I think I'll have more luck working on Henrietta to find out exactly how Jane Downs came to leave Delaware and end up in MO or IL where she married Lewis Blankenship.

Anyhow, back to the Oscars....  I've read a couple of reviews online of what the critics had to say about the host and other acts on the show. I agree with some but disagree with more.  I thought Seth MacFarlane was far from entertaining and funny.  Many of his jokes were in poor taste and I don't recall laughing once at anything coming out of his mouth.

One of the most tiring things about the Oscar show is the steady run of celebrities coming out to present awards and subjecting us to how cute they think they are before they get around to announcing the winner.  Nine times out of ten, their skits and banter are boring with a capital B. I thought it was ironic how music was rudely played loud or  ushers walked on stage to guide long-winded thank yous off-- yet they'd let the presenters waste our time with their lame routines. Most of the thank you speeches are entirely too long but on the other hand, there are those people who wait anxiously hoping to hear their name from the winner's lips.  I know if I had anything to do with a movie that won an award, I'd sure love to hear my name announced to the world.

 I do enjoy seeing all the gowns and hairdos.  I pretty much like all the dresses except for the ones where the starlets have half their boobs hanging out.  Seen one boob, you seen 'em all. But oh well, it is Hollywood and they have enormous egos.

As someone who struggles with her hair on a daily basis, I'm always surprised at the stars who can afford good looking hair and come out looking like they just left their bed.  One of the women who got an Oscar for make-up and hair design looked especially unkempt.  Robert DeNiro needed a lot of help and so did Jack Nicholson (who could also use help getting dressed).  But he can look anyway he wants, I suppose. Especially when you google him and you only have to type "jack n" to get a hit.

I have a desire to see more "shorts" and documentaries and foreign films after watching the Oscars and I intend to look into that in the coming months.  I don't have any desire to see Django Unchained. It just looks too dang sad and upsetting. I'll probably watch all the others once they hit video as frequent theatre outings can be hard on the budget.

I did go to see Silver Linings Playbook and Argo.  I was pulling for Argo from day one as I thought it was a terrific thriller.  I liked all the music numbers except for Jennifer Hudson.  She has a really good voice but I don't like it when she chooses a song that has her screeching and bellowing. I ended up putting her on mute.  Barbra Streisand made me feel like I wanted to watch 'The Way We Were' again.  That was one good movie.  Also enjoyed Adele.

I thought it was interesting to see what stars showed up on the red carpet or were presenters who weren't there in previous years. Sometimes I think it depends on whether your "ex" and his/her new spouse are in attendance.  I could have done without the 'cut to the White House' for Michele Obama to say a few words.  She gets enough air time on the talk shows already.  Course if it was Hillary up there, I'd think it was fine. 

My favorite actor and actress to see?  Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep.  All they have to do is show up and I'm happy.