As far back as I can remember, I have watched the Oscars. In previous years, I usually caught most of the Red Carpet arrivals, and maybe a bit of the opening blah blah. In a really good year, I’d watch the handing out of the first couple of awards. Then I’d go to bed and read about the results in the morning…and catch Entertainment Tonight the Monday eve for the gossip on fashion and post-awards parties.
I thought it would make for a funny New Experience to set myself the challenge of watching the entire awards broadcast for this year. As you know, I am an early-to-rise kinda gal, so to stay up til at least 11:30 p.m. would be outside my comfort zone of awake time. But the idea of watching til the bitter end was too much to resist; count me in!
Let’s start with the good news – I did stay up til the very final award was handed out, Anne and James said their brief good night, and those kids started singing. Now let’s go back in time…
proof of the tv going on - ready for etalk's red carpet broadcast!
Here were my Kiki-as-Judge rules for the evening: 1) I could multi-task during the hours of viewing time I’d be putting in [Sidenote: The Princess Twin had free Awards viewing on their big screen; I was interested, and it would have been fun to watch there, but I needed time at home to complete other tasks - maybe another year I'll pop over!] 2) I could not miss seeing the giving out of any awards.
6:30 p.m. I make my cake for Thursday eve’s cake class.
my same basic yellow cake from the wilton website that i successfully used in classes #2 & 3
Ben keeps me company:
ben mulroney: canada's red carpet go-to guy (sorry, ben, but you're way cheesy!)
Let’s be honest: Canada cannot hold a candle to the US networks when it comes to interviewing guests on the Red Carpet.
7:00 p.m. – I switch stations to ABC:
tim gunn joins me in the living room! US networks = better access to the starz...
Let me go on the record as saying I miss the days of Joan and Melissa Rivers on the Red Carpet. Yes, they were tacky, slightly rude, and asked questionable questions…but they sure were fun.
Meanwhile, my cake making was coming along nicely (I am a very slow baker):
just beat it (dunh, dunh) just beat it...a little michael jackson here 
7:15 p.m. I grab a small window of opportunity (cakes in the oven, no A-level stars arriving) to hop into the shower:
yes, empty shower scene - we'll keep this PG rated
7:25 p.m. It’s back to multi-tasking: I knit, read some blogs, drank a Stevia pop, waited for my cakes to reach perfection bake, and watched TV:
anything else we can do simultaneously?!
8:30 p.m. I head over to the couch and plop down next to . Still knitting.
helllooo, b!
9:00 p.m. Dinner time (I had a late snack at 5 p.m., and like to eat later in the eve, anyway!)
micro'd *fries*; salad beast with sardines and everything but the kitchen sink!
…and peanut butter from the jar with a spoon for dessert!
9:30 p.m.-ish and onwards: just watched the awards. Weird! I never sit on the couch and just watch TV!
9:45 p.m. Very much enjoying this couch time, still into the awards!
9:50 p.m. B heads up to bed so I’m on my own!
10:00 p.m. I am getting tired.
self-portraiture at the next level: NOT looking at the camera!
I was tired from then on out. I closed my eyes during commercials. But I did not fall asleep – that would have put this New Experience into jeopardy!
a glamour girl i am not as the night gets longer...
cut the filler blab, already!
i've made it this far, i'm not giving up now!
11:39 p.m. It’s over! The final award has been handed out (yea for King’s Speech!) and I am free to say good night.
it's a wrap!
this photo is as blurry as my eyes were by this time - but my watch DOES say 11:38 p.m. proof, again, of mission accomplished!
11:45 p.m. Tucked in to bed, and asleep in about 17 seconds. Enjoyed a deep and solid sleep and was awake at 5 a.m. today! Bet I’ll be ready for bed tonight, though!
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No cookie giveaway!!
I made five Oscar predictions here. I got 1/5 right (Christian Bale – lucky guess!) So my system worked!…See, if I had chosen the movies/actors I really wanted to win to win, they would have lost…so this way Colin Firth, Natalie Portman, The King’s Speech all won since I didn’t pick them!
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A few personal observations about the Awards Show:
~ Bring back Billy Crystal!! Nothing personal, Anne Hathaway and James Franco, but you were rather lame as hosts. Not really funny and rather immature. Billy made a brief guest appearance. Botox’d looks aside, HE is an Oscar host!
~Best line of the night: James Franco’s grandmother’s cry of “Marky-Mark” during the opening monologue
~The waif look is out/bygones.
~The whole Kurt Douglas appearance was embarrassing, sad,n painfuk to watch, and went on too long
~Acceptance speeches are boring; the only two exceptions: Big Hair Guy who accepted for Best Live Action Short Film, and Randy Newman for his songwriting award.
My fashion assessment:
Thumbs up:
Marisa Tomei
Scarlett Johansson (but not her hair)
Helen Mirren (always a winner)
Reese Witherspoon (my award for best hair and make-up; dress was a bit boring)
Natalie Portman
Best of the Night Award: Gwyneth Paltrow – loved her tan, her hair, her makeup, her earrings, her Calvin Klein gown
(source)
Thumbs Down:
Cate Blanchett (but she had great hair)
Robert Downey Jr’s wife, Susan
Nicole Kidman
Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Hudson – just because their dresses were boring! And red – I dislike red, in general, in life.
FINAL COMMENTS:
I did it, it is done, it is likely a once-in-a-lifetime achievement. Kinda like an Oscar.
Did you watch? What are your impressions?!
