Today was slated to be busy from 10 AM to 10 PM, but fortunately (unfortunately?) Kicks for Kids was cancelled this morning due to the high chance of rain. I was disappointed that I wasn’t able to play with Oobleck with the kids, but getting in those few extra hours of sleep was definitely needed. In the afternoon, I walked over to The Lab to meet up with other members of the Trojan Business Alliance (TBA) for their first social event of the year.
We all shared some appetizers and talked for the whole time. We ordered a couple dishes of the Spinach Artichoke Dip and Chipotle Nachos, and they were much more filling than I expected! I mostly focused on the dip, and it was so delicious. The bread we used for dipping was crispy on the outside, like a pita chip, but warm and soft on the inside. So. Freaking. Good. The whole time we were there, we all talked and got to know each other more. We also played this game to help each other remember everyone’s names a little better. Overall, it went really well, and I made a few new friends!
Once we all walked back, I went down to the Troy Courtyard to start setting up for the Oscars Viewing Party with the rest of BG (Building Government). We ordered a TON of decorations from Oriental Trading, and they were all so cute! We had banners and centerpieces and stars all around the conference room, along with a “photobooth” area set up. We also had a ballot to vote for the Best Picture nominee. We raffled off these Popcorn buckets filled with past Oscar-winning DVDs and classic movie candy for the winners of the trivia competition and raffle. I didn’t win any buckets for my movie or trivia prowess (which is non-existent, by the way), but I did win when we had a random raffle drawing! The bucket I picked included Slumdog Millionaire, Million Dollar Baby, and Argo. All in all, a pretty solid haul IMO. In addition to the prizes, we offered the residents some snacks, popcorn, and mini brownies! There was originally going to be BBQ outside in the Courtyard, but it started raining 😦 So we ordered pizza as a replacement.
My thoughts on the Oscars winners/nominees: Highly unqualified.
After all, out of all the Best Picture nominees, I have only seen Boyhood, and I wasn’t even super impressed with that. Yes, it’s amazing and it’s ridiculous how the movie was shot over 12 years, but honestly, I didn’t think the movie had a plot or a point to it. Some say that’s what makes the movie amazing. Some say I didn’t like it just because I didn’t grow up as a boy, so I couldn’t connect to the movie as much, but I say bullshit to that! There was a girl growing up on film, as well, and I connected with her! I still stand by my opinion. I think while the point of the movie may have been that there wasn’t a plot and that it gave a glimpse into the life of an average family, it should still have some overarching message with some direction to it, and I just didn’t see that with Boyhood. This is not to say I didn’t like the movie. I actually really enjoyed it! I just don’t feel it lived up to the hype that everyone talked about.
As for the other nominees, I’ve seen most of the trailers, and I’ve heard amazing things about The Grand Budapest Hotel, Birdman, Whiplash, etc. I still need to watch them, but from what I’ve seen/heard about them, I think the wins were all well-deserved. My only disappointments are the fact that Interstellar and Gone Girl didn’t get more Oscar love. I think they were amazing movies and should have been recognized more than they were (not to mention The Lego Movie!!). Speaking of Interstellar, yay for their win! Along with Big Hero 6! I’m a huge fan of that one, and I recommend everyone to see it if you haven’t already.
In terms of Oscar fashion, I didn’t really watch the Red Carpet coverage, but from what I saw from the presenters and winners, it looked like the fashion was on point tonight, and there weren’t many fashion fails! Some standouts for me: Margot Robbie, Jennifer Lopez, Reese Witherspoon, and Anna Kendrick (both dresses!). I swear Anna Kendrick’s red carpet dress was BY FAR my favorite dress that I’ve ever seen in an awards show. It used to be Olivia Wilde’s Golden Globes 2011 dress.
Move aside Olivia Wilde, hello Anna Kendrick.
When I saw her dress on stage, I literally was taken aback by how much I loved it. And trust me, that does not happen very often. I loved the color, and it looked just so elegant. Plus, I’m absolutely OBSESSED with that halter neckline and the diamond detail. She just looks so poised and confident! I literally cannot get over how much I love her dress.
Shoutout to some honorable mentions for best dressed: Rosamund Pike, Dakota Johnson, and Rita Ora’s necklace crazy snake necklace (couldn’t find a good picture of it).
Something else was incredibly interesting to see during the awards show. I noticed that many of the Oscars winners were using the minute (or less) that they had up on stage to bring awareness to some political or social issue such as suicide, gender equality, or Alzheimer’s disease. I still don’t know how I feel about this new trend. Obviously, it’s amazing that such powerful people are using the precious time on air that could be spent thanking their husbands, wives, and children, instead to encourage viewers to educate themselves about a particular issue. I know that after tonight, every cause that was mentioned will have gained a significant amount of attention and support (both moral and monetary). Any and all awareness is beneficial, but I can’t help but think that this is still, at its core, an awards show for the moving pictures. Yes, many of their dedications had something to do with the film they won the award for, which made sense, but some just felt very out of the blue and as if they didn’t belong. It’s as if you’re having a very normal conversation with someone and they suddenly burst out, “You know that gender equality is a really important issue in our society. Why aren’t we talking about gender equality???” Yes, of course that’s an important issue that we should all be concerned about, but it has nothing to do with the topic of the conversation.
tl;dr, I felt that some of the speeches felt out of place at times, but I’m having trouble finding it in myself to complain about someone passionately fighting for social equality, no matter the context.
I guess we’ll see if this burst of social activism within the entertainment industry will carry over to next year’s Oscars or even upcoming awards ceremonies.
What were some of your Oscars wins? Snubs? Fashion favorites? Thoughts on the speech topics?
caruul
i don't understand. story of my life 
One reply on “Oscars 2015”
Hey, so uhhhh I just nominated you for the Liebster Awards. Have fun.
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