Oscar Buzz

Last night I enjoyed the Oscars in traditional American fashion. I got together with Buffy and her friends and we sat and drank wine, ate food and bitched about who won what and more importantly, what they were wearing. (Did you see Daniel Day Lewis's wife, by the way? Where did she get that dress? Goodwill?)
The main advantage, of course, was the fact that we could watch at an entirely reasonable hour, Chicago being only about three hours behind LA. In England, even the re-run was shown around midnight!
I also felt unusually proud every time anyone with an English accent collected an award. Not sure I quite agree with the Americans' response to Helen Mirren. I think most of them believe she really is our Queen.
The show itself was not what it was years ago. No more huge musical numbers, no more comedy routines. Without that all you are really left with is..well..a string of awards. Even this year's dead people montage was largely full of technical people unknown by the general public.
And where are those old Hollywood stars who would be dragged out for a final round of applause on a ventilator? Guess they must have been on a previous montage..