Daily Prompt: Time After Time
We don’t have a lot of traditions. We have a lot of intentions, but they don’t always pan out. But we have one that’s sacred. Okay, not exactly sacred, but we do it every year.
Garry and I watch the Oscars.
We watch them when they are boring. We watch them when we are tired and would like to go to bed. We watched them one year in the pilot’s lounge at the top of a cruise ship on the biggest screen television I’ve ever seen.
Last year, we watched them in Connecticut with friends. For my money, Seth McFarland was the absolutely funniest-ever host.
Ellen DeGeneres was good this year. Pleasant. A kinder, gentler host. But McFarland made me laugh more and laughter always wins the day with me. Her selfie with the stars crashed Twitter and broke all retweet records with more than 2 million retweets.
Garry and I have been together 25 years — officially. Longer unofficially. Much longer entirely off the books. And we always watch the Oscars.
I suppose I should say something about why. I mean, mostly, the show is pretty dull. Insipid speeches thanking everyone the awardee has ever known since birth or even before birth in a previous life. Ho hum productions of the songs of the year. They used to have really bad dance numbers, but eliminated them this year. Drat. That was always good for a groan.
Lacking the bad production numbers, we could gawk at the hideous examples of “one plastic surgery over the line.” Kim Novak was terrible to see. A lovely woman who fixed what didn’t need fixing. We barely recognized her. Then there were all the rest of them, so full of Botox that their faces were all zombified. Rigid. Men and women alike, terrified to be seen getting old.
Garry and I looked at each other and whatever problems we have, we look a lot better than they do. Without plastic surgery, thank you.
And one more thing. How come, since they have the financial wherewithal to buy whatever they want, are so many of them so badly dressed? Can’t buy good taste, eh?
So that’s why we watch the show. To see the new stars, the old stars, the gorgeous dresses from fabulous designers worn by aging stars who should know better. The awful dresses worn by beautiful young starlets who should look in the mirror rather than take the advice of designers.
Ugly tuxedos, terrible hair, bad makeup and some stomach-wrenching plastic surgery. And at least one or two wins for the actors, directors and others who’ve done an amazing job and deserve a victory lap.
The good, the bad and the ugly — it’s all part of the magic of the Oscar night.
It gives us a chance to yell “Ew!!” yet we are ever-ready to praise those who come through the Oscar experience nicely dressed, not surgically remodeled, with some grace and dignity remaining.
We can hardly wait until next year.
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Categories: Celebrities, Entertainment, film, social media, Television
SERENDIPITY - SEEKING INTELLIGENT LIFE ON EARTH 
I watch for the clothing! Thats it!
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I’m kind of on the same page.
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The Captain’s lounge takes it to a whole new level though!
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It was VERY cool 🙂
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I love cruising ! Captains level once achieved there is no going back !
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So true 🙂
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The shine has come off the Oscar a bit, but you know what? the show has improved – and Ellen was good. I didn’t watch it all – I tune in the big awards. Shocked that Gravity didn’t win (I wasn’t the only one – good thing they didn’t have the camera on certain people at THAT moment). Well I haven’t seen all the movies that were nominated, but I was pulling for Matthew McConaughey … yeah.
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My moment of disillusionment was when Hurt Locker won over Avatar. The politics were SO blatant!
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This was the first year in what seems like forever that I actually stayed up to watch the Oscars. Just never got into that scene. You nailed it with The Good, The Bad, The Ugly! Enjoyable? Yes. Will I watch them next year? Probably. 🙂
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It’s one of the few things we watch every year. The other one is the Westminster Kennel Club show. For Garry, it’s all about films and history and for me, it’s a chance to be mindlessly catty about other’s women’s expensive clothing 🙂
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I read something today that made me SICK! Some kind of settlement where the woman had to have $50,000 a month ‘maintenence’ fee…maintenance on herself in other words! Yuck!
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They don’t inhabit the same planet we do. I can’t even imagine needing that kind of money for anything!
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I can readily think of better ways to put it to use! 99% NOT personal!
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Oh, I can think of ways to use it, but can’t imagine actually NEEDING that much money. Unless you are supporting a hospital or something.
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Regarding ageing with dignity – and even a few pounds – think Shelly Winters, or Kathy Bates or Cloris Leachman. We make it so much harder for a woman to age “gracefully” than it is for a man. Men get wrinkles, and we call them character lines; when women get them we still just call them wrinkles,. Must be our national fetish for nubile pulchritude..
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What you mean “WE?” I personally am aging gracelessly and with no dignity at all, but at least I’m alive! So far, so good.
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For an isolated Angloswiss in the middle of Europe, nothing special for me. I have looked, but it is really only over the past years that they are a big thing here. We are both film fans, but I like the good old days where everything was calm and logical and people were people.
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Us too. As Garry said, we don’t even recognize most of the younger players. But that’s the thing with tradition. You do it because you do it. Time will march on, with or without us.
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I was for the In Memoriam part.
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Yes. Us too. There are always a few sad surprises. A whole generation is almost gone now.
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Rick, the “In Memoriam” segment was the best. Hope that doesn’t sound goulish. It’s a reminder of the great ones who have passed.
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We do not have TV. We have not watched an Academy Awards show for at least 6, maybe 7 years. But your post made me wish I had. I immediately had to Google Kim Novak to see what she looked like now and I don’t think she looked so bad. But the article that accompanied the photo made me stop and think. Everyone, including the actresses who decide to go under the knife, should re-think and re-define true beauty. Let women age gracefully- or not so gracefully. And let’s not be so quick to judge lest ye be judged. We will all be old some day- those of us lucky enough to avoid an early death. I remember growing up and watching the Academy Awards with my parents, who would comment “look how old so-and-so looks”. And I would sit there, thinking “look how old YOU look”!
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Thing is, there ARE worse things than looking old. We don’t look young, but we don’t look like zombies either. A little plastic surgery may help preserve the illusion of youth. A LOT of plastic surgery makes you look like you are wearing a permanent mask!
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I totally agree. Thanks for your post. I really enjoyed it!
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Emilio, I can personally relate to vanity and the growing older story. I worked for forty years as a TV news reporter. I have video and pictures that span the years. I must admit there are many days when I look in the mirror and then look at the old pictures and, golly, I groan and sigh. Time to cue Dorian Gray!!
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And every time I look in a mirror I now see my dad. He’s taking over my face.
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Funny about that. I pass a mirror, wave and say “Hi Mom!”
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I’ve watched (and listened when we had no TV) the Oscars for as long as I can remember. The good, the bad and the ugly. I’m of the age when I can recall Bogie, Coop, Gable, Holden, Crawford and other legends as regular presenters. Bob Hope was the familiar court jester/emcee. Burt
Lancaster and Kirk Douglas would do a song and dance number with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly looking on with smiles. The audience was filled with familiar faces like Bette Davis, Hedy Lamaar, Greer Garson, Gregory Peck, “newer” stars like Brando, Clift, Heston and “emerging talents” like Newman and McQueen. These days, I don’t recognize many of the faces and am not familiar with much of their work. Much of the magic is gone but I still enjoy the history that Oscar represents as a classic movies lover. And, when someone like Sidney Poitier takes the stage, that magic returns briefly. I wonder what Norma Desmond would say about the Oscars today.
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“Mr. Demille, I’m ready for my closeup.”
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