so there was this show on last night?

calloocallay and soupkills were kind enough to open their homes to we Cablevision orphans for the Academy Awards last night. I made a devil's food cake with golden caramel-coconut frosting for the occasion. Somehow I wasn't feeling the twitter during the show, not sure why, but here are a few thoughts:

• My favorite thing, for those of you who haven't been to LA, is that the Kokak Theater is in a mall. Their are chain stores on either side of that grand staircase
  
• I love every single thing that Gabby Sidibe did all night long, from working it on the stage at the beginning to enjoying the moment of being a nominee near the end.
  
• So NPH sang to open three out of the four major awards shows this year, and was brilliant every time. Love the shiny jacket.
  
• I thought Alec and Steve were hilarious. Of course, Steve is my dream man, so there's that, but still. Also the shout out to Turner & Hooch as a classic comedy pair because the Turner & Hooch joke actually never gets old.
  
• Haha, Clooney's whole stonefaced schtick was hilarious, though I'm sad that so many people took it seriously. New Nicholson, y/y?
  
• I didn't miss the best songs. Back in the day they didn't let the original artists sing—I remember Phil Collins didn't sing "Against All Odds"; it was like, some Vegas chick Ann Reinking! Who is an amazing dancer, but isn't really a singer.
  
• The John Hughes tribute reminds me that people my age are rather powerful in that town, which is weird to think of!
  
• Quentin also entertained me all night long, from his enthusiastic reaction to that silly horror package to his presentation of the foreign language film. Also: ALMODÓVAR!
  
• Classy single men take their mother or their daughter to the Oscars.
  
• Speaking of which, I was intrigued by the way they chose people to present the best picture noms, so often folks who had worked with the director in the past.
  
• That costume designer winner was fabulous. LOVED her dress, her whole look, but also loved what she had to say about people rewarding the contemporary costumes for once as well as the period stuff.
  
• I was really pleased with all the winners. We did all let up some big shouts when Bigelow and then The Hurt Locker won.

Color War!

I've seen a lot of woe around here lately—including from me! So I wanted an alternative bracket that would actually be nothing but fun, and in thinking about the 64 spaces on a bracket of course my brain went to the 64 colors in the original large box of Crayola crayons!

I have a great love for the original 64, the colors Crayola sold in the big box with a sharpener from 1958-1990. Since then colors have been added, retired, renamed, but the original 64 is what I had as a child. I used them so much I had the names memorized, and a long elaborate ongoing soap opera about them in my head.

Here's the bracket, awesomely made by ali_wildgoose! The NCAA format is four brackets of sixteen slots, but mine has eight brackets of eight slots, each one headed by a color in that very first Crayola pack of eight. Click to enlarge!

( bracket! )

The original 64 were heavy on the browns and blues, moderate on the reds and greens, and light on the oranges, yellows and purples, so I had to get creative about the placements. As with most brackets, I'm keeping as many like things with like as possible. And there will be samples of each color along with the polls for your voting needs.

First round polls have been closed! For results: first half (left side) of the bracket, second half (right side) of the bracket.

Vote round 2 here!

Spread the word! I'd love to see as many votes as possible. It's early spring and we need a little silly, colorful cheer!

round 1 voting now closed!

Round 1, the round of 64, has now closed! For results: first half (left side) of the bracket, second half (right side) of the bracket.