Tinsel & Tine: Annual Oscars Round Up 2013

The 85th Academy Awards Recap

Tinsel & Tine’s Oscar Night Red Carpet Picnic Menu:

A big part of The Oscars or any awards night starts with – What Am I Going To Eat?

I featured a sampling of Trader Joe’s hot and cold appetizers for The Golden Globes and had decided for the Oscars to try Mwaza Catering, as I had met and interviewed the owner at the Black Filmmaking in Philly Forum. Mwaza offers Afro-fusion cuisine platters on the weekends. They have a great facebook app which allows you to click on the menu items you want to order, select a pick up time, it then totals and you hit submit order. Only I noticed my order was saying pending for a long time, turns out weekends for Mwaza means Friday and Saturday, no Sunday platters.

Not everyone takes the Oscars as seriously as I do. Most people don’t mark their calendar the day the date is announced or take a day off from work post Oscars. So, earlier on when I told the owner, Ajoke, that I would be featuring her establishment on Oscar night – it probably didn’t even register with her that Oscars are always held on a Sunday night and they would be closed. I guess it’s my hubris for thinking being featured on Tinsel & Tine would be a big deal. To Mwaza’s credit, Ajoke did call me to apologize for the miscommunication and offered a complimentary meal for any up coming Friday or Saturday (must order on Thursday).

So I went with what was easy, tried and true – Popeyes Chicken, Biscuits and Redbeans & Rice.
The movie candy and popcorn is courtesy of my Aunt Knuckie. I love that she ingeniously filled an empty oatmeal container for the popcorn. I classed it up a bit with Holly Golightly and sparkling wine by Nando Fragolino, which I have to say was a bit too sweet for my taste.

Tinsel & Tine’s Oscar Red Carpet Favorites:

Catherine Zeta-Jones / Stacy Keibler / Nicole Kidman

Of these three blingy, shimmery dresses, gotta give 4 Tines to Catherine Zeta-Jones. I like the Grecian appliques and the frothiness at the bottom of this Zuhair Murad dress. She may have over done it on the self-tanning, but the over-all effect was good.

The other two ladies look stunning as well, except for their middle sections – Stacy’s gown doesn’t need the black belt and Nicole’s has a weird batman-like insignia on the front.

Jennifer Lawrence / Amanda Seyfried / Amy Adams

It’s harder to pick a favorite among these frothy, pale colored gowns. Amanda’s fit her new even slimmer figure very well. I happen to like dresses with tulle and originality, so I’m partial to Amy’s gown…

but I have to give the 4 Tines to Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence, it may have been too much dress for her to make it up the stairs to receive her statue, but this Dior Haute Couture gown with amazing texture was perfect for her age and the occasion.

Anne Hathaway / Charlize Theron / Jessica Chastain

The clear winner among these slim, form fitting dresses is Charlize Theron in Dior, or was it just that like everyone else with eyes, I was awe-struck by her beauty in that super short hair cut?
She shaved her locks for the role of Furiosa in upcoming Mad Max: Fury Road. But I think she should do a Halle Berry and leave it short.

The darted pointed breasts on Anne’s dress was too distracting. Jessica’s dress was an interesting color, not gold, or bronze, but something in between, yet perhaps she tried too hard to look like an Oscar statue.


Kerry Washington / Octavia Spencer / Zoe Saldana

This is so wrong to do, group these dresses not by color, but by the color wearing them. I didn’t set out to do it; Kerry’s dress could have fit into the bling category, Octavia’s in the froth and Zoe’s in the form fitting – but, since I had to group by threes to fit on the page, and the other gowns fit their respective categories better…

At any rate, Octavia Spencer gets 4 Tines among this group. I think this Tadashi Shoji gown is a far better and lovelier dress than what she wore last year when she won her Oscar.

Kerry’s dress is just fine. Zoe’s gown is gorgeous, but again, lose the belt, my favorite part is the shades of gray layering underneath.

Tinsel & Tine’s Verdict on Oscar Host :

Seth MacFarlane

I think Seth MacFarlane is adorable! So impish, yet innocent, and multi-talented! I suppose he based the Family Guy character of Stewie (apart from the violence) on himself. And I’m sure I’m not the only one who thinks he’s a doppelganger for Peter Brady (Christopher Knight).

The opening had a lot going on: He made sure to please those looking for camp with dance numbers, (who knew Charlize Theron had such a lovely hidden talent). Those looking for kitsch & geek factor got Capt Kirk (William Shatner). Those looking for his Family Guy/ Ted humor (me) were treated to a hilarious ode to actresses who have bared their boobs on screen, a sock puppet “Flight” reenactment and a Flying Nun costumed Seth making out with a still hot Sally Field. I also loved this bit about tomorrow’s headlines and each time he tried to “fix the opening” the comment section would have a lower number.

I haven’t read or heard the verdict yet on his performance from the official crtics, but he’s got my vote to return next year!

Tinsel & Tine’s Small, Picky Observation:

Shirley Bassey sings “Goldfinger”

The tribute to the Bond music didn’t feature enough songs. They only used two in the montage.
Yes, Shirley Bassey hit it out of the park, (did you notice the glee on Tarantino’s face after her performance?) And later, Adele sung “Skyfall”, but that was because the song was nominated, not as a tribute to the music of the James Bond franchise.

Tinsel & Tine’s Favorite Part of the Evening:

I’ll just use what I wrote on facebook last night:

And also having two of the most fabulous women make an appearance:

The First Lady: It’s through cinema, that “our children learn to open their
imagination and dream just a little bigger and to strive every day to
reach those dreams.”

Barbra Streisand’s voice may be deepening, but so was her love for the departed Marvin Hamlisch

Tinsel & Tine Picks the Winners:

On the official Oscar site (click for complete list of winners) you could fill out a ballot before the show and even play against other people on facebook. I like the app, because it would immediately update your ballot with the results 5 seconds after the winner started their acceptance speech. I could have gotten more correct, but I voted some of the categories not who I thought would when, but who I wished would win.

For instance, you would think seasoned and connected Sally Field would have simply been offered the role of Mary Todd Lincoln; not true, she wasn’t even being considered and had to audition several times to play the role; as Spielberg was afraid she’d appear too old next to much younger Daniel Day-Lewis. Therefore, I was hoping she would win.

Here’s the link to the rest of my ballot picks

And I also voted for Quvenzhane Wallis. Jennifer Lawrence most likely will have many more chances at Oscar Gold; but Quevenzhane, an untrained sapling, pulled off something few seasoned performers could ever achieve.

Tinsel & Tine’s Pick For Best Speeches:

Daniel Day-Lewis (Best Actor for Lincoln) is a deadpan, standup comic!
Yet, his tribute to his wife, made me want to weep – “…since we got married 16 years ago, my wife Rebecca has lived with some
very strange men. I mean they were strange as individuals and probably
even stranger if taken as a group. But luckily she’s the versatile one
in the family and she’s been the perfect companion to all of them”.

Chris Terrio who won for Best Adapted Screenplay for Argo, dedicated his Oscar to Tony Mendez and others who use creativity and intelligence to solve problems non-violently.

(Click for Tinsel & Tine review of Argo )

And then of course what we all were wondering and waiting for – Ben Affleck being given the dubious distinction of having directed the 4th picture in The Academy Awards 85 year history, to win a Best Picture Oscar without a Best Director nomination.

His speech was quick, yet very moving. Affleck spoke of the highs and lows of both marriage and the movie industry – talked of his journey – got all choked up – all in about 2 minutes or less!

It was a high note on which to end The Oscars rather lengthy, but enjoyable evening.

There’s really a lot more to talk about, but best to end this post before the theme for Jaws begins – Duuun dun duuun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun…(Note: that was the playoff music signaling those who’s speeches were going long.)