Oscar Night

I remember watching the Oscars growing up, so it was fun to watch at least the start last night with both of my boys and my husband. Overall, I thought it was a terrific show, one of the most enjoyable, least cringe-worthy I can remember. Some thoughts of the night:

• Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin were awesome, much better than I thought they would be together. The writing for their jokes also rocked.
• One of my favorite moments involved my son Rowan. When Baldwin and Martin told the young hot guys, "We're what you'll look like in 5 years," and then the camera cut to Jeff Bridges, Rowan said, "And that's what those two will look like in 5 years." His beard did look a little Rip Van Winkle-ish.
• With the exceptions of perhaps this dress and this dress (and possibly anything Helen Mirren wears ever), I thought the dresses were horrid, particularly this one and this one. Everything was too heavy in the gown--it wasn't frou-frou, it was frou-frou-frou. And this dress--oh my Lord almighty, I told Derick about it, and when Charlize Theron appeared later on the show, Derick said, "Whoa, something's grabbing her boobies." I am picturing what Michale Kors would say about that dress and enjoying myself. (I know this bullet makes me petty.) Nicely, Sandra Bullock and Cameron Diaz's outfits were much prettier than usual, IMO.
• Entertaining as the show is, I think they should eliminate the best picture recap summaries they show throughout. Make the show quicker.
• I am in love with Sandy Powell, who won costume design, simply because she tipped her hat to the designers of contemporary films who do as hard a job and never get noticed.
• I liked the homage to horror, but I couldn't believe they made the mistake of saying that no horror film had won since The Exorcist. They must have forgotten that this film won the big five Oscars--surprising, since they showed a clip from the film in the homage.
• I got choked up when Michael Giacchino won for music, and then gave a heartfelt speech where he also thanked his teachers.
• Also a choke-up: seeing local man Pete Docter win for Up. I sang next to his mother at my old church; what a positive, energetic, creative woman. When I was pregnant years ago, she gave my boys memorabilia from Monster's Inc., another film from her son. Apparently, she used to have him design sets for our church's musicals when he was growing up.
• The John Hughes retrospective was my final choke-up.