And the Oscar for Best Dressed goes to...blah...blah...blah

The Oscars are known for running long and being boring, but the fashions add a must-needed zing to the festivities.

Not this year.

Between the long opening monologue (not you, my pretty Channing), the dreadful Catherine Zeta-Jones "Chicago" number and the Jaws-theme cut-off music, for anyone not in an actor category, it was a pitiful finale to the awards season. 

And the fashions... they were tedious, un-inspired and safe. Gah.  

So I protest. Oh, I'm still going to name the best and worst dressed, but the reveal doesn't deserve my usual witty commentary or intelligent observations. When they bring their "A" game, so will I.


Best Dressed:



Jessica Chastain in Armani Prive.




Worst Dressed:

Helen Hunt in H&M. 
I know I said I wasn't going to say anything, but... those are wrinkles in the front of her dress. WRINKLES!! You don't buy Oscar dresses from H&M!!!



And, in a "Bitch Stole My Look" moment (Hello, Fashion Police!) Charlize Theron, in Christian Dior Haute Couture, stole her Oscar look from Anne Hathaway's (Chanel) Golden Globe look.

         






Yawn.

I'm sorry we didn't have the kick-ass fashion finale I imagined. Let's hope Hollywood does better next year.

Did you watch the 2013 Oscars? Do you agree with my assessment? What was your favorite part of the ceremony? 

See you next month!



Tracey Livesay just signed a contract with Entangled Publishing for her interracial, contemporary romance, The Billionaire's Socialite Bride and the other two in the series. She blogs here on the third Monday of every month. If you like the flavor she's bringing, you can check out her blog, Mimosas at Midnight or Like her Facebook page.

Le, La, Les... (Miserables, that is)

Books, Movies, Movies, Books

I still have a nervous tic. “Le, la, les…” (twitch), “ conjugate the verb…” (blink, twitch), “Si s’une tableau peinte un mille mots…” (twitch, blink, tic).

But I overcame my fears. We purchased tickets through Fandango. We staved off the militant woman who swore at us for saving a seat for our elderly, disabled mother, and we saw the new release of Les Miserables, starring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Anne Hathaway.

And I don’t care what the critics say, have said, will say, (ont dit, dits, vont dire - twitch), the current release of Les Miserables is INCROIABLE!!! Take your tissues, because you will cry – a testament to the power of live recording of the music. (And despite what some critics have said, Russell Crowe rocked Javert!) I wept. The people around me wept. Grown men on every row were surreptitiously, (and some not so surreptitiously), blotting their eyes.

If you have read the original by Victor Hugo, you might remember a pretty dry read. Trust me, this movie ain’t that. And this is another reason why I love this gig, comparing books to their movie counterparts: in the movie, the directors and writers have the opportunity to perfect the original story. I don’t believe there are many writers who believe their words are so sacred they can not stand with some improvement. You write. You edit. You edit again, but at some point, you have to relinquish your imperfect darlings and send them out into the cold, cruel world. There, they either stand up to scrutiny, or they crumble.

It’s been a while since I read the original. And yes, I had to read it in the original language for a high-school French class. That was brutal. I still suffer from the nervous tic induced by the mere mention of the title. But now, I have some other associations, that may help with my nervous condition. Why didn’t anyone tell me to picture Hugh Jackman in the role of Jean Valjean when I was reading it back in high-school? Oh yeah, maybe because Hugh Jackman was also in high-school. Today, I don’t think, “French Revolution” without the sung accompaniment, “2-4-6-0-1”. (You’re singing it too, aren’t you?)

On a side note, I got another movie for Christmas. I adore this Danish film, KINAMAND, starring Bjorne Henrikson and Vivian Wu. Sadly, unless you keep a copy permanently rented through Netflix, it's not available in the U.S. and foreign DVDs don't play on U.S. players. So that's why the man I love gave me a universal player to go along with my European copy of KINAMAND. Looooove that man.