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So How About Those Oscars?

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Larry & I had the opportunity to attend an Academy Awards party at Ken’s house in Los Feliz – “Ken” being Mila’s brother who I’ve known for pretty much all of his life.  He’s done well for himself and has a great house in the hills of Los Feliz and as you can see in the pics below, the view is REDONK.  It was a lot of fun to watch with this group of people and while I ended up doing terribly in my predictions for most of the lesser awards, when it came to Best Picture, I ended up deciding to pick Moonlight as I figured the awards would get split between Picture and Director, and when Damien Chazelle won Best Director, I thought I was looking good.  Then La La Land is announced as the Best Picture, and while I was happy with that result, I also know plenty weren’t, and it also hurt my ballot (not that it mattered, I lost hard).  But then, that craziness of ‘oh yeah, Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway were given the wrong envelope’ occurred and it was like, oh shit, are you kidding?  Not just because that was an insane thing to have happen at the Oscars…but also, my employer is the one who looks to have been responsible for it happening!!  EEEK……. and throughout the news cycle today, it definitely doesn’t look like that assessment is changing anytime soon.  I can’t imagine anything else happening besides THERE WILL BE BLOOD.   This is one of those cases though where shit doesn’t have a downhill option to go….the 2 partners who are there are the only ones allowed to know who won, so anyone else who was associated with helping is in the free and clear as nobody else has that comprehensive picture…and weren’t there with the envelopes.   Girl, this is gonna be a rollercoaster, just saying.

So in the meantime, here are some fun pictures of the view from Ken’s house along with some pictures of people you may or may not know.  🙂

Looking down Hollywood Blvd towards the Oscars
Sunset was approaching too
Zooming in on Hollywood
You can see the pavilions installed on Hollywood
Prospect Studios in Los Feliz
Griffith Observatory and the Hollywood Sign
A better shot of both
This is the freaking VIEW from Ken’s place
The Pacific is glowing in the sunset
Goodyear is on it
Hollywood Blvd as it comes all the way down
Glittery ocean
Me and Mila
Mila and Ilona
Scattered sunshine

Oh yeah – now this is an Oscar Winning Composer’s signature on the La La Land vinyl!:

just a post, pop culture

Goodbye, Leap-Year February!

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It wasn’t all that terrible of a month, but I think I wasn’t all that compelled to write about it in this here blog, that’s for sure.  Larry & I did get some wedding planning progress made though, and that has gone a long way towards hopefully making April 30 go off without a hitch.  We’ve happily received many of the RSVPs and sent out some additional invitations as we got a sense of how many more people we can bring in.  I really think it’ll be a good time and I can’t wait to see all the friends and family who join us.  Let’s just see if El Nino can not be a total asshole and save all its rain for April and/or May.

Random Hits:

  • This year’s Oscars were kind of okay.  I’m glad Spotlight won Best Picture over Mad Max: Fury Road.  For obvious reasons with regards to the fact I really wasn’t a fan of Fury Road, but also because we did see Spotlight and it was amazing.  Also, Mark Rylance winning for Bridge of Spies was a sensational surprise.  He was soooo good in that movie and when you’re watching him in it, you just think, man, he should win awards for this role!  Of course, Bridge of Spies ended up being kind of an under-the-radar movie especially for a Tom Hanks / Steven Spielberg collaboration, but by all means, go see it!
  • We went to Nicki’s yesterday to watch the Oscars, and it was a lot of fun.  I drank all the wine.  That was actually my theme for this weekend, which may be what’s driving my mindset about saying peace out to February.  I’m possibly hungover still.  Ugh.
  • On Saturday night, Larry & I went to what is likely the now for-reals venue for the rehearsal dinner – a French restaurant called A Food Affair.  It was wonderful and had a ton of charm.  The manager, Babette, was as French as you could imagine and so fun to talk to.  I took pictures but I’ll put them up tomorrow or something.  I just wanted to get this post in on LEAP DAY.  eyeroll..
  • Tomorrow I finally get to meet our wedding coordinator, who is also a coworker of Larry’s.  We’re all going to be at the Oviatt for our final walkthrough of the venue and wow, it’s crazy to think we’re just over 2 months away!!!  Here goes nothing!

Alright, that’s it for now.  I’m sleepy and need my beauty sleep.

pop culture

Lady Gaga and Her Amazing Sound of Music Oscars Performance

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This year’s Oscars were just okay – Neil Patrick Harris was a decent host but definitely not firing on all cylinders.  Go back to the Tonys, buddy.  🙂  I kid, I kid.  But his jokes definitely fell on the bad side more than the good.  Yet there were quite a few redeeming parts of the show:

  • Patricia Arquette’s acceptance speech was awesome, as were the reactions from Meryl Streep and JLo.
  • The Adapted Screenplay winner for Birdman and his emotional plea to “stay yourself, stay weird” after admitting he attempted suicide.  That was devastating.
  • The good spread of awards to quite a few different winners – I absolutely loved that both Whiplash and The Grand Budapest Hotel walked away with a few high-profile wins.  Those movies deserved it.
  • I’m a little surprised Michael Keaton didn’t win but I have to give Eddie Redmayne proper credit:  he disappeared into the role of Stephen Hawking. He WAS Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything.
  • The performance of “Glory” was exhilarating.
  • But let’s be real….for me, once it was clear that the Oscars were about to honor The Sound of Music and that Lady fucking Gaga was going to be the one doing the tribute performance?  I nearly lost my mind.

I’ve linked to the official Oscars performance if you click on the screenshot below…..please, if you haven’t watched it, get blown away by how talented Lady Gaga is.  I’ve always been a fan and always appreciated she was more than the “pop star” that so many are nowadays.  The girl has got major talent, and it’s not only singing, as she can play the hell out of a piano too.  But even after enjoying her duet album with Tony Bennett, I never would have guessed she could put on a show as Julie Andrews and FUCKING NAIL IT.  God damn, it was amazing.

ladygaga_som2

And then to have JULIE ANDREWS come out herself and hug Lady Gaga and thank her for the wonderful tribute….tears, I tell ya, tears!  It was thrilling and I can’t get over how much I still love that movie, even after seeing it billions of times.  And to have Lady Gaga be a forever part of those memories is quite a new thing to marvel over.

Alright, I’ll fanboy my way out of this post now.  I’ll say one more thing about the Oscars – I admit I’m surprised Birdman won the Best Picture award over Boyhood.  I’ll write up about seeing both Boyhood and The Kingsman in a post coming shortly (I do recognize they’re not in the same league) as we have recently seen them but I’ve been preoccupied with other things.  Boyhood was quite a feat of moviemaking and the human story it told, over an actual 12 years, was quite amazing.  Those few scenes with his mother, father, and then that scene at the high school graduation and then when he goes to college?  YEESH – way too close to my reality.  Anyway, I still salute Birdman.  All of it up to that very last moment – then I have to leave the praises behind.