Staying Up Late With Oscar

Frankly I can’t really explain why I stayed up until 11:38pm last night to watch Billy Crystal say goodnight and close the 84th annual Academy Awards program from Los Angeles. I knew it meant at best three hours sleep and at some point today I will regret the decision.

But I do it every year because I admit to being fascinated by the movies and the Oscars are the Super Bowl of awards shows so what’s another night of less than adequate sleep. Now as a sports guy you probably would have assumed that I watched the NBA All-Star game and I did…during commercial breaks.

Full Oscar coverage

As far as the broadcast it was good to have Crystal back as host, especially after last year’s disaster with James Franco and Anne Hathaway. He kept the show moving and it seemed like just about everyone in the audience appreciated his talent and humor. It was the 9th time he hosted the Oscar ceremony, second only to Bob Hope’s 19 and there’s no reason why Crystal shouldn’t continue to be the #1 choice.

For the most part the public is only interested in six of the 24 categories in which golden statues were given out last night and clearly the big winner was “The Artist”, a French Romantic Comedy that is mostly silent and filmed in black and white. It earned the coveted Best Picture award along with Best Director and Best Actor for Jean Dujardin. It’s hard for me to offer any comment as I didn’t see the movie and either did most of you…it’s earned only $32 million since coming out Thanksgiving weekend. I was hoping George Clooney would win the Best Actor award but he’ll have to wait another year or two or three.

Speaking of waiting…it’s been sometime between Oscars for the most accomplished actress of our generation but Meryl Streep came up a winner last night. The 62-year old New Jersey native was honored for her portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in “The Iron Lady.” It was her third Academy Award in 17 nominations and first since “Sophie’s Choice” thirty years ago.

As for the Supporting Actor and Actress…well they were as different as night and day. 82-year old Christopher

Plummer took home his first Oscar for playing a dying gay man in “Beginners” while an emotional Octavia Spencer was a popular choice for her performance as a maid in “The Help” which was my favorite movie of the year.

There’s not enough time to me to talk about fashion but there were some really bad dresses, including Emma Stone…what was she thinking?