OSCARS 2013: THE SOUNDS OF MUSIC, DANCE & VICTORY

Hi,

Hope you're doing fine? Did you watch the Oscars? Certainly, by now it's old news for all of you but for me! So, here we are!

Of course by now everyone must have finished discussing the grand ceremony (certainly one of the best I've seen in recent times...we'll discuss more about it in this post), the winners (like always a post-mortem analysis on some performances that sprung a surprise etc etc) and one thing that no one forgets to discuss is how did the host of the evening score in this prestigious annual award function watched by millions worldwide!

Here's my five from this year's Oscar! 

Did you just see Robin & Harry Potter dance?

1) Don't know where to start from... anyway let's begin with Seth Macfarlane himself! The job of hosting a show is not easy...you gotta have spunk and timing to get your act right. 

The immensely talented, Seth Macfarlane largely succeeded in doing so, but here's where he didn't! I somehow didn't quite enjoy his sexist barbs through his pre-recorded song- "We saw your boobs!" or his dig on Latina actresses like Salma Hayek, Jessica Alba or Penelope Cruz and his tongue-in-cheek on DDL's method! Also the Ted-Mark Wahlberg act didn't gel well with me...I just kinda found it crude!

Ooh la la...they 'Step Up'ped ' the evening!

2) Unlike previous year's Oscar ceremonies, this year the acts were centered around a theme, which was 'Music and Dance'! 

And I quite enjoyed watching this whole new concept of music and dance performances make a beginning at the Oscars...they definitely sprung up a surprise with this one! Perhaps in 2014 they could consider 'Comedy' as the next theme!!  

The stunning Catherine...

- It was a refreshing change to see the talented duo- Channing Tatum and Charlize Theron set the ball rolling with their sizzling dance number followed by Seth Macfarlane, Daniel Radcliffe and Joseph Gordon-Levitt's brief yet impressive jig. 

Then you had the gorgeous, Catherine Zeta-Jones set the stage on fire with a complete song and dance performance from her popular number in Chicago.

And the captivating Barbara...

-  And if you thought that it was just about dance at the Oscars...then halt right here! 

This year the highlights were the high-pitched stellar performances by both the old and the young with the likes of Barbara Streisand, Shirley Bassey, Adele, Jennifer Hudson and Norah Jones setting the base for the evening.  

And the cast of Les Misérables enthrall us with their performance once more!

And giving us one memorable performance was the complete cast of Les Misérables up on stage with Hugh Jackman opening the act with "Suddenly" which segued into Anne Hathaway performing a snippet of  “I Dreamed a Dream...” not before the cast chorused together "One Day More..." (I love this song...it's become an anthem that simply inspires and speaks the language of hope, faith and love!)

Surprise of the evening...Michelle Obama!!

3)Surprise Surprise... guess who turned up???The First Lady of the United States of America,Michelle Obama!  She was at the Oscars to do the honors of announcing the big winner of the evening for the Best Picture while Jack Nicholson handed over the statuette! Psst ..but did I tell you that it was a satellite appearance! ;) Perhaps this might have been the first at the Oscars where the First Lady graced this event via satellite link.  Pssst...the BAFTA's could well take a cue from here...did I just happen to mention Prince William and Princess Catherine? You can complete the blanks! ;) 

Glad to see Ben Affleck's 'Argo' win the Best Picture!

Coming to the big win for Argo, this might have been some consolation for Ben Affleck who may have been snubbed by the jury for the Best Director category but the presentation of his win for the Best Picture by the First Lady herself, could have well brought back that lost smile! 

And the jubilant winners bask in the glory of their big win...

4) This year if you'd have asked audiences to predict the winners of the three categories of award, namely Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor and Best Director you'd have been amazed at the mixed responses you'd have got! You had some fine performances by amazingly talented actors and actresses and some masterpiece of film-making by prolific directors and still you you'd nowhere be close to guessing who the winners might possibly have been at the Oscars even after witnessing the Golden Globes, SAG, Critics Choice and the BAFTAs. 

While the notion that generally holds true are that the winners at the BAFTAs are those who'd win at the Oscars....this year new rules were written as far as the winners for the Best Actress and Best Director were concerned (of course sadly, Ben Affleck was not even nominated for the Best Director...sigh!) While Daniel Day Lewis and Anne Hathaway won hands down at all award functions; have a look at the table given below to see how the verdict was split in these three categories!

Awards	Best Director	Best Actress	Best Supporting Actor
Oscars	Ang Lee	Jennifer Lawrence	Christoph Waltz
BAFTA	Ben Affleck	Emmanuelle Riva	Christoph Waltz
Golden Globes	Ben Affleck	Jessica Chastain	Christoph Waltz
SAG	Ben Affleck	Jennifer Lawrence	Tommy Lee Jones
Critic’s Choice Awards	Ben Affleck	Jessica Chastain	Philip Seymour Hoffman

When French Actor and last year's Best Actor winner, Jean Dujardin came up on stage to present the Best Actress trophy...for a moment I thought it was a presentation-coup as French Actress Emmanuelle Riva was winning the statuette. Well the rest is history that an equally deserving and the highly talented, Jennifer Lawrence won the coveted prize for Silver Linings Playbook and became the second youngest actress after Marlee Matlin (Children of a Lesser God) to win the Best Actress trophy. 

Gimme Three!!! Cheers!!!

But this time...I got it right and it was definitely a presentation-coup as three times Best Actress Oscar winner presented Daniel Day-Lewis his third for Lincoln! Last year was Meryl's moment of glory when she tallied a total of three Best Actress wins and what a coincidence yet again that Daniel Day-Lewis achieved the same feat this year in the Best Actor category! Congratulations!!!! 

Sandra  effortlessly makes you smile!

5) Ah ha...Attagirl, loved Sandra Bullock's expression while opening the envelope -it was hilarious! That's one tough envelope lady! Some tough decisions, tough judgments and the seal's gotta be tough too! :p

Hope you enjoyed watching the Oscars, just as I did (on television of course!) and enjoyed reading this month's blog post too! And if you did...then do write in!

Till then....take care and ciao until next month!!

Love,

Sonyaa