My Night at the Oscars

Okay, so maybe that title is a little misleading. I wasn't actually at the 86th Academy Awards, but I did stay up to watch it. I love a good awards ceremony, and the Oscars is the cream of the crop. I mean, you have to accept that genre films are never going to do as well as they should, and that it's all a little cheesy, but it's the glitz, glam and over the top silliness that I love the best.

I did actually write notes as it went along, but after 3am my handwriting gets really sloppy and my spelling goes out of the window. So here are some of my thoughts...

Ellen Degeneres made a brilliant host. She was funny without making anyone feel uncomfortable. In fact, the whole show felt really laid back, almost like it was just a bunch of chums getting together to have a fun night out. My favourite bit was when Ellen ordered everybody pizza, and for the next twenty minutes whenever they cut to the audience you could see some of Hollywood's biggest stars munching away.

I'm probably at my most patriotic during awards ceremonies and so it was really brilliant to see all the Brits who worked on Gravity winning all those awards. I also thought that all the British men looked particularly dapper and did their country proud.

I was ridiculously excited when 12 Years a Slave won Best Picture. It's a wonderful film. I mean it is really heavy, but it's only reporting the truth of what happened, and there are a couple of really beautiful moments. I just worried that it might be too heavy for the Academy to vote for. I loved Steve McQueen jumping up and down at the end of his over-excited speech.

Actually, there were many good speeches. I get bored when people just go into a list of "thank yous", but as soon as people start talking about following their dreams, I'm sold. Jared Leto managed to include everything from his mum to the Ukraine. Genius.

Now, I've had less than five hours sleep, and my brains a bit mushy (I keep randomly capitalising things), so I'll wrap this up with my best dressed man and woman. For the men, I pick Jared Leto, I mean, yes, that white jacket and red bow-tie were a little eccentric, but he looked so good with his hair down. Also, I've had a crush on him since My So-called Life began twenty years ago (shit, that's ages). Seeing as that show also gave us Claire Danes, if you didn't watch it at the time, you should check it out now, especially if you are or have been a teenage girl. It was amazing...

But I'm getting off the point.

Best dress woman goes to Lupita Nyong'o, who also had a lovely acceptance speech ("No matter where you're from, you dreams are valid"). It was inspired by champagne bubbles and was a lovely blue that really suited her. The front was so low cut that it was either held up by tit-tape or magic. She looked amazing. Having said that, she's so beautiful that she'd probably have looked just as good if she was dressed the same as I was, fleece pyjamas and fluffy socks.