"Oscar!" (said with flourish, a la Liza Minelli)

I really, really enjoyed the Oscars this year.

The red carpet was pretty meh -- with the notable exception of the child actors from Slumdog Millionaire. Even Ryan Seacrest couldn't ruin that moment for them. I love them, especially Ayush Mahesh Khedekar, who played Youngest Jamal. (BTW, Seacrest -- you had WEEKS to learn how to pronounce their names. Sack up!)

Hugh Jackman was funny and charming, and totally worked the crowd. I loved the musical number in which he admitted that he hasn't seen The Reader yet. The required five mentions of Brangelina? Hilarious.

I thought Tina Fey and Steve Martin were the perfect pair of presenters for the screenplay awards. The way each nominated film was introduced was so clever. And "Don't fall in love with me." indeed.

I loved the way each acting nominee was introduced by a past winner. They should do it EVERY year -- talk about an honor to be nominated. Did you see Anne Hathaway choking up as Shirley MacLaine praised her performance and seemed to honestly be speaking from her heart about Anne's talent? So touching.

The montages were not all perfect... I liked the romance one, and thought Robert Pattinson was smoldering as per usual. I loved the comedy one with James Franco, Seth Rogen and famed cinematographer Janusz Kaminski. That man had the best sense of humor of anyone all night.

Although Natalie Portman had a wicked good burn while Ben Stiller was parodying Joaquin Phoenix: "You look like you work in a Hasidic meth lab."
So good!

But the In memoriam! WTF, Academy? Okay, okay, I can deal with Queen Latifah singing live to the montage. That's fine. But switching about the camera angle on the screen so that I can't even read the captions? Zooming in and out for no reason? Seriously? Kinda disrespectful.

You'll be happy to know that I accurately predicted five of the six "major" categories. I totally called Sean Penn, Kate Winslet, Heath Ledger, Penelope Cruz and Danny Boyle. I missed Slumdog, though. I really thought Milk was going to win. We live in a post-Prop 8 world, you know?

Speaking of!

I have been dying to get a White Knot from whiteknot.org for forever (more like 10 days, but whatever). It's like a twist on the ribbons you see for causes like breast cancer or AIDS awareness/support but these show support for marriage equality ("Everyone should have the right to tie the knot."). From the About section of their website: "The White Knot symbol takes two traditional symbols of marriage — white and tying the knot — and combines them." I love the look and what the ribbons stand for, so I really need to send in my stamped, self-addressed envelope and soon!

Oh, yeah -- Did I mention that they're free? You just need to send in a stamped, self-addressed envelope!

Why am I mentioning this totally awesome movement in an Oscars post? Because a lot of people wore White Knots to the ceremony! You can check out red carpet pics here.

“I don’t enjoy being treated like a pansy.”

That’s what Grandma V. said to her physical therapist this morning. She’s a tough broad.

Portland has been tiring, but fun. It is so different from Michigan, in a million ways. For example:

People actually use public transportation.

You don’t have to pay to park at the hospital’s parking structure.

There are Obama stickers EVERYWHERE. I’ve only seen one for McCain/Palin.

The whole vibe is different. I’ve been known to describe it using the word “granola” -- affectionately, of course. Also, the fact that we’re in an actual city rather than suburbs is weird and new for me. (Sorry, downtown Detroit, I’m just not that into you.)

I’ve been taking a lot of photos with my camera phone. Maybe I’ll put up a slideshow when we get back.