Whoo-hoo-hoo! Scorcese and The Departed won!!!!! I was thrilled and I was also very pleased that Alan Arkin took the Best Supporting Actor prize for Little Miss Sunshine. Both Mirren and Whittaker made really gracious speeches about their wins, which was a pleasant change from thanking names on a list. Leo DiCaprio has long since grown out of his boyishness and his roles have gotten better and more demanding. While he didn't win last night (I thought he was nominated for the wrong movie, anyway, and thought his role in The Departed was Oscar-worthy), it will happen for him some day. And then maybe not, of course. There was Peter O'Toole in the audience, looking very longing to be recognized and for the eighth time did not get the prize. Ellen was a delight--warm, witty without guffaws, engaging the audience in ways that delighted them and gave folks like me a chance to get a quick look at "stars" when they were a little off guard and weren't in a "role." And those dancers who looked like Circe de Soleil acrobats and mimed icons of the best pic nominees were mighty clever. When they turned themselves into a VW bus and later a gun, I was laughing out loud. The show had a couple of draggy spots but then it always does, and I just waited past them for the stuff I wanted to see. Overall, set design was simpler than usual and thus more appealing. Meryl Streep fixed her bra strap (again!) and obviously needs to be better fitted in her undergarments. But she was a total charm when Ann Hathaway and Emily I'm-drawing-a-blank were handing out an award; Streep was obviously happy for them and put on a Miranda face just to heighten the fun. Jadon Smith might be the handsomest little kid around and his dad, Will, is his best audience. Talk about a proud dad. And how about Al Gore's team winning an Oscar for An Incovenient Truth? While that won't make some of the naysayers on "that other forum" happy, I was sort of wide-eyed when a man who might have been president of the US bounded on to the Oscar stage with the folks who made his film possible. Nice. Now we're into the film void. Netflix just sent me an e-mail pitching me to rejoin. They know what's going on out there. I might just take them up on the offer, at least until the fall when all this hoopla starts all over again.

Well, by George, Bobbie - you got there, with Annette and Cynthia nipping at your heels. TM, really, I t hought you'd get one or two, but not seven - lol. George Bernard Shaw (26 July 1856 - 2 November 1950) was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60 plays. He is the only person to have been awarded both a Nobel Prize in Literature (1925) and an Oscar (1938), for his contributions to literature and for his work on the film Pygmalion (adaptation of his play of the same name), respectively. Shaw turned down all other awards and honours, including the offer of a knighthood. Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor, best known as the lead vocalist and a founder member of the Rolling Stones. Jagger studied business courses at the London School of Economics, and had seriously considered becoming either a journalist or a politician, comparing the latter to a pop star. Jagger's career has spanned over 50 years, and he has been described as "one of the most popular and influential frontmen in the history of rock & roll". In 1989 Jagger was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2004 into the UK Music Hall of Fame with the Rolling Stones. Multiple Silver, Gold and Platinum albums and records. Kevin Spacey, CBE (born Kevin Spacey Fowler; July 26, 1959) is an American actor, film director, screenwriter, and film producer. He began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, before being cast in supporting roles in film and television. He gained critical acclaim in the early 1990s, culminating in his first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for The Usual Suspects (1995), followed by an Academy Award for Best Actor for American Beauty . During a career which has earned Spacey several Emmy and Golden Globe nominations, his other starring roles include Seven (1995), L.A. Confidential (1997), Pay It Forward (2000), K-PAX (2001), and Superman Returns (2006). He was the artistic director of the Old Vic theatre in London from 2004 to 2014. He currently stars as Frank Underwood in the Netflix series House of Cards. Sandra Annette Bullock (born July 26, 1964) is an American actress and producer. She rose to fame in the 1990s with roles in films such as Demolition Man (1993), Speed (1994), The Net (1995), While You Were Sleeping (1995), A Time to Kill (1996), and Hope Floats (1998). In the new millennium, Bullock starred in Miss Congeniality (2000), Two Weeks Notice (2002), The Lake House (2006), and the critically acclaimed Crash (2004) and Gravity (2013). Bullock had initially turned down the role of Leigh Anne Tuohy in The Blind Side three times due to a discomfort with portraying a devout Christian. She was awarded the Academy Award for Best Actress, Golden Globe Award for Best Actress Motion Picture Drama, Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role and Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress. The Blind Side also received an Academy Award for Best Picture nomination. So, there is our foursome!! Fearsome, huh?? I think so. So, for Bobbie: For Cynthia: And for Annette: Thanks to all for my Birthday wishes and for playing. See you next week. Now I'm off to check out Cynthia's question!! Nancy.

I read recently that George Clooney is still learning Italian. I don't know what was going on with him. I agree that the 'glaring looks' were just part of a gag but he acted so odd on the red carpet. I couldn't decide if he had been drinking, in a bad mood or had a fight with his girlfriend. And I didn't care for his shaggy locks. I don't find Sarah Jessica Parker attractive and it seems she selects her gowns just for their conversation points rather than what might be attractive. Her hairstyle reminded me of an elaborate geisha. Doogie was awful. I fear he's on the verge of over exposure. Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin weren't too bad but they certainly weren't all that entertaining either. Miley Cyrus needs a posture lesson and someone to help her select a dress that fits and is becoming. But then I got a glimpse of her mother last night and now I know why she looked the way she did. Many of the women were just lovely and I enjoyed their gowns - Meryl, Helen Mirren, Sandra Bullock, Cameron Diaz, Sigourney Weaver. I didn't even miss the musical numbers until someone here mentioned them. I loved that UP won. That's going to be one of my all time favorites.

Love and don't the Susanna Moore quotes about the threatened wildlife in Hawaii. Seems every year the list of the threatened species is growing