Wow. Ten years. My Oscar party is older than my children and older than my marriage. But one thing that will never get old is eating nachos, hanging out with friends, and talking about movies. And then eating more nachos.
We had all the standard foods this year. Coke Zero Dark Thirty, Nachos Unchained, Life of Pie, Lincoln (cheese) Logs, and Silver Lining Pizza Biscuits. And we had the usual gang of suspects. One fun thing was that our friend McCrim, who had been at our very first Oscar Party in Silver Spring, MD, was in attendance once again, having now moved back to Vermont, just like us! It was like we had come full circle, and it was awesome.
As for the show itself, well, I was shocked (SHOCKED!) to find out online that it had very mixed reviews. Well, not that shocked. Seth MacFarlane, as host, was a little crass and over-the-line. You know, because he is Seth MacFarlane, and that’s what he does. Personally, I found him generally hilarious, as did everyone else at my party, and at the conclusion we all commented on how that was the first Oscars telecast in years that we had actually enjoyed watching. I mean, we like them every year, but this year we laughed out loud repeatedly, loved the music and the surprises, and noticed a distinct lack of long and boring speeches. And it doesn’t hurt that I am a sucker for Captain Kirk and songs about boobs.
I loved the whole opening bit, from the jokes, to the softshoe. I loved the fact that there were a lot of musical performances. My least favorite thing about recent Oscars has been the decision to either reduce or eliminate the nominated song performances, so having some of them back, plus a few extras as well, was a welcome pleasure. Shirley Bassey was awesome, although I did feel like she was a Maya Rudolph SNL skit waiting to happen. Such theatricality! Adele was okay, but I think the sound guys messed something up there, and her last note (when we could finally hear her) was out of tune. But again, it seemed like sound issues were happening, so I am not too mad at her. And good old Seth MacFarlane was entertaining at all times. When he “introduced” Meryl Streep, I cracked up pretty hard. Not a new joke, but always funny.
I suppose if you didn’t enjoy the show, that is your right. But at least don’t act surprised. Unless, like my mother, you had no idea who Seth MacFarlane is or what he does. Then you could feel free to act surprised by the show, the jokes, and all the buttons he tried to push. Although my mother loved it anyway and thought he was very funny. But then again, she also loves Hallmark movies and anything with Tim Allen in it. So what I’m saying is, everyone has different tastes, Seth MacFarlane is offensive/possibly funny, and my party unanimously agreed last night: best Oscars in a long, long time.
But I still hope we get Tina and Amy next year.