Oscars '09

Well it turned out to be a rather small gathering this year (total count - 4 ladies and one Lenny who drifted in and out, mostly for food and drink), but that's ok. We all fit on the couches for optimal viewing, which is important. We just had a rather disproportionate amount of food, but that's ok too because who doesn't love leftovers?

So throughout this past week my mantle display evolved as I found more stuff and kept rearranging it. This was the finished product (if you click on the pictures they get much bigger, and yes that is an autographed photo of Paul Newman that I found in Mom's storage!):
Here is our massive amount of food (minus the gigantic and delicious tiramisu my friend, Deidi, made and our beverages which were champagne and sparkling peach and white grape juice). I was impressed that all the food except for the shrimp turned out to be golden in color. In the back are mini quiches and the bucket behind the shrimp is full of this yummy cinnamon popcorn I made. The bucket has Indiana Jones pictures on it. We got it when we went to see Ironman and I brought it home and saved it for this very purpose.

The front row (left to right) is empanadas, shrimp and stuff on bread covered in melted cheese, and the shrimp cocktail in the giant martini glass.

Here is a picture of the Oscar viewing area. Lenny hung my "vintage" 2007 Oscars poster on the wall and I had photo coasters in which I put pictures of various movie stars.

So my thoughts on the show: I thought Hugh Jackman did a great job. And I loved Anne Hathaway's participation (and singing!) in the opening number, but I loved her red carpet dress much more than the one she wore in that number. I also loved Penelope Cruz's diamonds. Fabulous and the perfect accent to her vintage dress. I was happy for Kate Winslet but I missed Emma Thompson cheering her on from the audience. I had forgotten she's been nominated 6 times (!) and this was her first win. I was glad the director from Slumdog won because everyone else was thanking him all night, so that seemed only right, and all those little kids were so so cute and the Bollywood dancing was fun and I still can't get over how gorgeous that girl from Slumdog is!