Oscars

We recorded the Oscars last night and fast forwarded through the majority of it. Overall, the program was pretty boring. Jon Stewart hosted it and I thought he might take that opportunity to make a few jokes at the current administration's expense or make some razor sharp observations at the media's handling of the elections so far, but no! With the ridiculous stories that keep coming out about Obama, I was hoping that Jon Stewart might make fun of a few of them- like the one about him "refusing to wear the flag lapel pin" or the one about how Obama's name is a terrorist name (we are still in 5th grade, apparently). The closest thing to it was Stewart's "Gaydolph Titular" joke. The context is not even entertaining enough to expound. Ridiculous and disappointing.

Now, on to the dresses!

I shall start with the hideous ones:

From the little I know about this actress, she does not conform to the rules of society. In general, I applaud that, however, I think there is a good way and a bad way to be a nonconformist. I think she chose the bad way- black, floor length, crushed velvet.

Look at the picture of these two from the ankle up. A freaky, horrible, weirdly matching each other mess! Then scroll down the last little bit and add their shoes into the pictures. What the freak?! Just when you thing the outfits could not get worse! Yikes!

Now, I have a fun game to play! It is called, "Real or Fake?" Today's contestant is Nicole Kidman (go figure). Look at the first two pictures- Make sure you do not scroll down to the third! Once you have looked carefully at exhibits A and B, guess which picture is of the actual live Nicole Kidman, and which one is a picture of her made of wax in the wax museum.

A.

B.

Have you decided? Scroll down to the next picture for the answer...

How did you do?!

This next section is for the dresses I did not like, but were not hideous or anything.

This dress on Kate Beckinsale has some kind of Barbarella meets The Planet of the Apes, meets the costumes in her movies- Evolution: Underworld and Van Helsing. She took that dress right off the runway this last season. I want to like it, I really do. Maybe it is the hair that is ruining it for me.

She needs to stop making this face and stop getting work done. When we were watching the show, she presented the award and as she was talking, Matthew kept saying- "It hurts. It hurts!" , every time she had to make her face move. It is hard for me to really see or care about her dress when her face and hair are so distracting.

I did not know that Owen Wilson and Portia de Rossi were dating.

The bodice on this dress is so scary! It looks like we stumbled upon her whilst she was in her slip getting ready for the show. The whole thing is flesh colored to make it worse. Thank goodness the necklace covers a little of what is going on there!

I really like the color of Jessica Alba's dress but I don't like the design. I realize she is pregnant and so her choices are somewhat limited. I do think her hair and makeup are really pretty. The dress reminds me of the 20 other like it (below) that have been floating around in different lengths and colors, though this one has evolved into feathers on the bodice instead of roses. Oh, and one another thing I dislike, as you can see better on tv, she basically has no top on.

Let's get this over with- Cameron Diaz. I find this dress quite a let down.

If this were the first time she had worn it, then fine, I could really like it, but she wore almost the exact same dress less than a year ago. I loved it then, but now it is just kind of lame to do something so similar. She usually wears things that are really different and fun, so this was a disappointment for me.

Adding to the problem, Cameron Diaz continues to do this messy, bed head look. I think it is really fun every once in awhile. I am not denying that she is able to have really dirty, perfectly messy hair on any occasion, however, she keeps doing it over and over again.

Here she is earlier in the day on Oscar night and her hair is no different than it is at the show. Perhaps it is a little dirtier later. On plenty of normal occasions she has done different styles and they aways look cute. She could still do her ponytail, but maybe a more pulled together ponytail or something like in the picture below. I am so tired of her red carpet look and she has always been one of my favorites.

Some may disagree and I understand, but I really dislike this dress! The feathers everywhere scare me and I don't particularly love the draping. It would make any normal person look horribly disfigured, but then that is why normal people are not on the red carpet. I do think the color is pretty on her. I dislike the hair.

Now, on to ones I like! In this first section, I like these looks, but with conditions.

My complaint with Ellen Page is the same I had at the SAG awards. She looks lovely and dignified and cute, but I wish she would inject a little color and interest into the outfit! On other occasions she dresses so hip! I like the drop waist in the dress and the necklace, but imagine the dress in any other color! A deep green or a blue perhaps. Anything! She was up for an Oscar and could have been accepting the award onstage. I just thought she could have come up with something more fun- as she has in the past at other events.

Katherine Heigl looks very refined in this dress. I love the details on the shoulder. Her makeup, however, is so bad! I think she is wearing a self tanner with an inch thick of bronzer followed by a lot of blush. It is confusing and scary- especially with the red from her lips and dress.

Stars like to dress up "Old Hollywood" as she did, upon occasion. I have a hard time buying it with this girl, because I clearly remember watching two of her Disney shows and I will forever think of her as Alexia Wheaton in "Wish Upon a Star". It is truly a classic. In the movie, Katherine's character and her sister hate one another and get struck by lightening or something and end up switching places. They are each in their other sister's body. One sister then tries to make the other one gain weight, the other one tries to get tattoos and piercings. It is a riot! I included a video:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLtEtc57vQo

Another favorite is "My Father the Hero". Katherine's character is on vacation with her French dad and she meets a guy that she likes. She tries to make him jealous by pretending that her dad is her boyfriend! You can only imagine the shenanigans! Wait 'til you see who the dad is!!

I highly recommend both movies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQhEqgGjA8w

Now, hear me out for a minute. You are going to have to use your imagination. I am not a fan of Jonny Depp's look, but I love his date's dress! You have to imagine with me that she is not wearing those horrible black hose or black shoes. Are you with me? The dress itself is so fun! It would be so amazing if it were a pretty color, but black is okay too. It is a beautiful 40's dress and her hair and makeup look good with it. I want that dress!

I love Jennifer Hudson's hair and makeup. She is so beautiful. I also like a lot of things about her dress. I like the color, the details, the length, the skirt, the neckline, however, there is one thing horribly wrong with it. Look at the picture below:

The sides of the dress under her arm have little cutouts and her skin is coming out the holes!! At first I thought that man's hand was there, but no! That is skin popping out! It is so unflattering! Plus it squishes her chest up something fierce and makes her chest look weirdly oblong. It troubles me. The dress could have been so perfect!

Amy Adams looks very beautiful. That color is so pretty for her! While I was watching her on the program though, all I could think about was how Isla Fisher wore a very similar dress last year to the Oscars. Isla Fisher's dress was vulgar with her chest hanging out and the material was far less flattering. I love the bottom of Amy Adams dress and think she looked great. The top is still pretty low, but she has far more coverage than the other girl did. Amy Adams' hair and makeup are lovely too.

From far away, I like her look. I love the color of the dress and the draping and folds along the bodice. The color really is quite regal.

When you get close up, though, the sleeves kind of bother me. They are a little too ice capades for me. The sleeves are made of Swarovsky diamonds, supposedly, so maybe that is supposed to make using see through netting on evening wear okay. I think she looks lovely overall, but I am not a fan of the sleeves!

Now for the dresses I like!

Heidi's dress is beautifully dramatic and I love the collar and train.
I think the volume that her hair creates is really pretty with that neckline. She just looks elegant and classy.

I love the color and detail on this woman's dress. Matthew and I found this beautiful, white Christmas garland just after Christmas and the detailing in her dress reminds me of it, but in a good way! The top is very low and very revealing. If not for that, this one might have been one of my top three favorites. Her hair and makeup are perfect. I do buy into her Old Hollywood hair and makup.

This girl look so pretty! What an age appropriate dress! The color is so unique and looks great on her. She looks like a Jane Austen maiden, but modern.

This is a cool dress. The neckline is so fun! The color combination of the navy and green and metallic is fun. She looks so great!

This awards show is the first time I have ever gotten the Jennifer Garner thing. This is the first time I think she looks really attractive. I love the dress. The picture does not do it justice. We saw it in HD and it is amazing.

What really made the look though was her hair and makeup. She has such harsh features with her jawline and and cheekbones and she always seems to make it more harsh by pulling her hair all back and wearing low v-neck dresses (below). This time she softened it up with face framing bangs and a necklace. The cleaveage is still out of control with the corset look, but at least she is not showing that nasty under-boob cleavage that freaks me out. She looks amazing!

And now for my 3 absolute FAVORITES:

This is Rosamund Pike who played Jane Bennett in the new Pride and Prejudice from last year. This dress is so unique and architectual. I love it! The color is so nice on her. She often dresses fun and ladylike. I really like her style.

I LOVE this dress on Anne Hathaway. The coloring and cut are perfect on her. Her hair and makeup are also perfect. She just looks so beautiful and amazing!

Third and final favorite is Marion Cotillard. She is a French actress who won for best actress. Not only does the dress look so great on her, but her hair and makeup are amazing. The dress is really fun. On tv in HD it moved like a living skin- somewhat mermaid like, I know. She looks so great! My favorite of the night.

Her style is very original and I like a lot of the clothes I have seen her in. Here she is at the BAFTA's from last month. I thought about sending some pictures, but thought it was a little overkill with the SAG awards and the Oscars. I really like her dress here, but I am sure many would not.

Hmm! Speaking of the BAFTA's, I would like to mention one of my favorites from that night:

Emily Blunt. So pretty!

As I said, the Oscars were boring overall, but there were two great moments that I really enjoyed. One was Marion's acceptance speech. She was so excited! It was fun to watch. I think she was the star of the night. Watch it below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8XN2K6jpmU

Second best moment of the night:

These two were nominated for Best Song from the movie "Once". They won and went up to the stage to accept the award. The guy makes his speech and then when the girl goes to speak, she gets cut off by the music... watch the video:

(by the way, I loved her dress too!)

Marketa from "Once"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pPe-1CBgng

As I was pasting this together, I realized that I often like the same celebrities' looks over and over again. I started wondering if I was being kind to the ones I liked and hating on the celebrities I did not like, regardless of what they were wearing, to an extent. At first I was ashamed as I though I was not being impartial, as I try to be. That shame lasted about 3 seconds when I realized that the only reason I like or dislike most of these actresses is because of what they wear. I don't know them. I don't see most of the movies they make. I only know them for their style. It makes sense then, that people with style that I like, consistently choose outfits that I like as they are keeping in their own personal style. Those whose style (or lack thereof) I do not like, consistently choose clothes I do not like- with a few exceptions here and there.

Overall, fun Oscars!!