Happy Birthday Liam!

HAPPY 60th BIRTHDAY, LIAM NEESON! 

2012 Oscar Fashions

  I've done my post of the Oscar winners now it's time to move onto the most important part of the Oscars, the fashion and of course " THE INCIDENT".

  So I shall start with "THE INCIDENT".  It is when when that ass Sacha Baron Cohen came dressed as 'The Dictator' and with an urn full of Kim-Jung Il "ashes"even though he was asked by the Academy not to do such a thing. Fault of the Academy Awards is that they LET him walk the red carpet even though they said that Cohen would not be allowed to do so. Now here we have Sacha Baron Cohen walking the red carpet with his urn and he comes to Ryan Seacrest, who proceeds along with his interview of the ass. Now just because I am not all that interested in Ryan Seacrest does not mean I want anything bad to happen to him, but with Cohen on the scene that is what happened. The jackass ( sorry to insult jackasses everywhere) then goes and "accidentally" spills the "ashes" ( turns out it's just biscuit mix) onto Ryan  and essentially ruining his suit, so that is when the security decides to remove Cohen from the scene and hopefully kicked his sorry butt out of the Oscars. I hope this publicity stunt for what is apparently a sucky movie "The Dictator" ruins Cohen's career, at least in the U.S. I don't really believe it will have too much of an adverse effect on him in Britain, after all is supposedly Freddy Mercury in a movie being done about the rock group Queen.

  Thank you for allowing me my little rant NOW on to the Fashions:

 Emma Stone, darling your precious and you have good taste but honey you're not Nicole Kidman or her minnie - me, so please don't try that fashion no-no again. Nicole has the height and right proportions to carry this dress off flawlessly, you don't. You are only 5'6" and Nicole is 5'11" so of course it is going to look dumpy on you. Plus, YOU DO NOT COPY WHAT SOMEONE ELSE HAS MADE ICONIC! And where is your 'stylist' whoever they are they should have their license and stylist membership club pass revoked because they obviously do not know what they are doing. And what exactly was Giambattista Vali thinking make a cheap looking knock off of Nicole's dress by Nicholas Ghesquiere ?

The right way

The wrong way

  Now Glenn Close had some va-va-voom this year. She was the Helen Mirren of this years Oscars, even if she did bear a striking resemblance to Camilla Parker-Bowles, Duchess of Cornwall.

  Jessica Chastaine who played Celia Foote of "The Help" wore a dress by one of favorite design houses, Alexander McQueen. Now I know some of you may have looked at my Alexander McQueen post and will see that the dresses there are very similar to her dress and a good way to wear the dress, but once again there is another one that should not have worn the dress because of her short stature. Now if Jessica had put her hair up and maybe worn higher heels, you know do something to try and elongate her body it wouldn't be as bad but here is another style team that did not try. SHAME ON THEM!

 

  Presenter Milla Jovovich dazzled the Oscars' red carpet in this beautiful one-shoulder Elie Saab sequined gown. She is at least one of the ladies Oscar night who was absolutely classy personified.

  In what maybe described as gutsy in some circles, Best Actress Nominee Viola Davis, for her role in "The Help", stepped onto the Oscars red carpet in a custom made green strapless Vera Wang dress and  au natural hair, no wig. Honestly, I think she looks good without a wig. Very Real. Very classy. So yes maybe it was gutsy for Ms. Davis to go out without a wig, because L.A. is a town where reality seems to get lost. But I can guarantee you this much... we'll never see Dolly Parton without a wig, not even when she's dead ( may she live for many years to come).

Viola Davis with her handsome husband,  actor Julius Tennon

  The actress that has seemed to dominate the top of every best dressed list this weekis another Best Actress Nominee, Rooney Mara  of "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" in her white Givenchy. Amazing.

  Now this next one may surprise some of you by being put on a fashion list because she is an entertainment reporter and not an actress. I am talking about E!'s Giuliana Rancic in her Tony Ward dress. I for one think she looked better than some of the stars she was interviewing. Did she interview Meryl Streep?

  God Bless Meryl Streep, she won the Best Actress ward, but that dress she wore... Lordy! I don't know if she thought with all those folds in the dress that if she didn't win an Oscar she could always snatch one and hide it in the folds. Or better yet her cleavage area of her dress.

  Louise Roe...ANYBODY? Well it is said that she is television presenter, model and fashion journalist. Wearing a dress that has been described by some as a folded napkin, I don't think I would taking any fashion tips from her.

Louise Roe just turned 30, so why is she dressed like an 80 year old matron?

  Best Supporting Actress Oscar winner for "The Help", Octavia Spencer needed no help winning on the red carpet while wearing a winning dress from Tadashi Shoji. Her dress reminds me of a star burst. I guess that is what Octavia Spencer is, a star bursting onto the A-list scene.

   I know Oscar nominee Michelle Williams made a lot people's best dressed list but I'm just not feeling her gown. I don't know if the color of her dress photographs badly or what but that coral has got to go. As well as the pattern of the dress reminds me of a chenille bedspread and the hip shelf ( I don't know what else to call it ) looks out of place, but then I don't like hip shelves anyway. Louis Vuitton can do better.

  Berenice Bejo, Oscar nominee for Best Supporting Actress in "The Artist" looked stunning in this beautiful champagne beaded gown by Elie Saab.

  Why Tina Fey was at the Oscars I don't know but she did look lovely in her Carolina Herrera dress. Such a classy dress. Love the color on her and the dress could have really hit it out of the ballpark if it too did not have the hip shelf.

  Okay now for the two most talked about dresses Jennifer Lopez's and Angelina Jolie's. 

Angelina wore a black Atelier Versace gown with a slit that went as high as an elephant's eye and I don't care if it did. What comes to my mind is that she was feeling a little reminiscent about about "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" where she met Brad and decided to wear the dress. And her sticking her leg out was just for laughs.

  As far as Jennifer Lopez's Zuhair Murad  dress is concerned, it was okay. I wasn't wowed by it. It is what it is. The only thing that made her dress have any resemblance to interesting is that people thought she slipped out of her dress on top when she hadn't. I guess it was just some horny men looking for an excuse to enjoy the Oscars.

2012 Oscars

  Last night marked the 84th Annual Academy Awards and it had very few surprises. For me the biggest surprise was Meryl Streep winning Best Actress Award for "The Iron Lady", I was fully expecting Viola Davis to win the award for her movie "The Help" and I guess "Rango" winning Animated Feature instead of "Puss in Boots" left some people disappointed. I am not one, for I could care less about the entire category. But then by the time it came to the Animated Feature category I was on the verge of not giving a rat's butt on any of it, I just wanted it to be finished.  Billy Crystal and the Oscars started of strong but then they blew it with all those friggin' testimonials and the presenter's schtick that cut into the winners acceptance speeches (YES Robert Downey, Jr. I'm talking about you and maybe Jennifer Lopez and Cameron Diaz). If these were cut out maybe it wouldn't seem longer than three hours. But with 5 each,the Oscars were split between "Hugo" for mainly sound, visual and art and "The Artist who won Best Picture, Director, Actor, Music and Costume.

  But  even with all that the show wasn't too awfully bad for it has been worse (David Letterman and James Franco). I was happy to see Christopher Plummer win his Oscar for "Beginners" which considering he had just won his first Oscar after all these years, one would think he was a beginner in show business. God Bless Christopher Plummer, the Susan Lucci of the Oscars.

You're only two years older than me, Darling. Where have you been all my life. I emerged out of my mother's womb, already rehearsing my Academy thank-you speech. But it was long ago,mercifully for you I've already forgotten it.

  Octavia Spencer. Dear, sweet, strong Octavia Spencer swept the award season this year with the cherry on top her win for Best Supporting Actress Oscar for "The Help", playing Minny Jackson, the housekeeper whose chocolate pies you may not want to eat. Love her.

  The French George Clooney, Jean Dujardin won the Best Actor Oscar for his portrayal of George Valentin in the French black and white silent film, "The Artist".

  Meryl Streep. What can be said about her that already hasn't been said. One of the most talented and loved actresses of our time won her third Oscar for "The Iron Lady", which is about Margret Thatcher, after a 30 year drought, including 17 nominations. ABOUT TIME!

    The Best Director Oscar went to the French director for the movie "The Artist" Michel Hazanavicius,  beat out Hollywood veteran directors Marin Scorsese, "Hugo" and Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris" to win his first Oscar.

  And the 2012 Best Picture went to "The Artist". It's almost like the little movie that could. It is a black and white film plus it is a SILENT movie. This movie was lighting in a bottle, I don't think we'll see another silent movie win a major award again.A black and white movie winning again in maybe in twenty years because that is about how long it's been since "Schindler's List" came out and won Best Picture, so twenty year intervals maybe the new normal. But "The Artist" is good and I am waiting for it to come out on DVD.

 

Richard Armitage

English actor Richard Armitage was born on August 22, 1971 in Leicester, England.In Brockington College in Enderby he studied music, playing the cello in school and local orchestras, while at the same time he was learning to play the flute. Richard Armitage then went on to Pattinson College in Coventry, England where he continued  his interest in music and expanding his education to include dance and acting.

In order to get his Equity Card, at the age of 17 Richard Armitage joined  a circus in Budapest, Hungary for six weeks. Upon his return to England he pursued a career in musical theater, performing in such plays as "Cats" as Admetus and Macavity. Being unhappy with this career path Richard at the age of 22, enrolled at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art in order to study acting further.

  After completing London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art three year program he went back to work on the stage as a member of the supporting players with the Royal Shakespeare Company's "Macbeth" and "Hamlet", as well as "The Duchess of Malfi". Also while taking a series of small television and film roles, he acted in the Birmingham Repertory Theater production of "Four Alice Bakers".

Angus Macduff

In 2002 Richard Armitage landed a minor role in the BBC drama "Sparkhouse" playing the shy,yet noble John Standring. After this experience Richard went on to act in a variety of supporting roles in "Cold Five",  "Between the Sheets" and "Ultimate Force" His first leading role was that of John Thornton in the 2004 BBC adaption of Elizabeth Gaskell's "North and South"

Look back

 2005 saw Richard appearing in the BBC's "Shakespeare Re-Told" series as Peter MacDuff in "Macbeth" and appeared in an episode of "Inspector Linley Mysteries" called "In Divine Proportion" as the recovering gambling addict, Phillip Turner. He portrayed the young Claude Monet in the 3 part factual drama on BBC and as Dr. Alec Track on ITV's  medical series, "The Golden Hour".

Alec Track

Courtesy of Richard Armitage, Guy of Gisborne came to life in the 2006 BBC series "Robin Hood". The series ran until march 28,2009 due to the departure of Jonas Armstrong, who played Robin Hood.

2006 saw him in the 2part Christmas special of "The Victor of Dibley" as the vicar's love interest and eventual husband. In 2007 he played biker Ricky Deeming in the television detective drama "George Gently".And he was also in the BBC Four production of "Miss Marie Lloyd - Queen Of the Music Hall" playing Percy Courtenay, Marie Lloyd's first husband. He also appeared in Granada TV production of Agatha Christie's "Ordeal By Innocence" as Phillip Durant.

  On October 27,2008 he joined the British spy show "Spooks" ( MI:5 In the U.S.) in series 7 as the character Lucas North. During the filming of the  series he allowed himself to be waterboarded for a flashback sequence. He began filming series 8 of "Spooks" in March of 2009 and that started airing in November of 2009. In series 9, which began airing in late September 2010, his last scene took place in a confrontation with Harry Pearce on the roof of the Enver Tower from which he disappeared after having been discovered to have stolen someone else's identity. In episode 7 his true name was revealed as John Bateman and at the end of this series his status is unknown.

 He appeared in BBC1 drama "Moving On" as John Mulligan in May of 2009.
 In May of 2010 he starred in "Strike Back" for Sky 1 as John Porter. A second series of "Strike Back" was commissioned by Sky 1. It started airing in August of 2011 but Richard has been filming the movie "The Hobbit" in New Zealand, in which he plays dwarf Thorin Oakshield and therefore is only appearing as a guest star in the second series.

 In "Captain America : The First Avenger" movie was released in July of 2011. In this movie Richard Armitage played Nazi spy Heinz Kruger. Even though this role was small, Richard gave it his full commitment, by reading the biography of the German spy, Erich Gimpel, who had been sent to sabotage the Manhattan Project. 

Ricky Deeming

 

Charlie Chaplin

Today is what would have been Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin's, KBE, better known as Charlie Chaplin, 122 birthday. In 1903 Chaplin got a role as Billy a page boy in William Gillette's "Sherlock Holmes" starring H.A. Saintsbury, who took Chaplin under his wing and manage his talents. In 1905 Gillette came to England to debut his new play "Clarice" but it was a flop. So as a joke on the British press he instead did a one-act curtain-raiser "The Painful Predicament of Sherlock Holmes" with Charlie Chaplin as Billy the pageboy. When "Sherlock Holmes" replaced "Clarice" Chaplin was kept until the end. During this time , Gillette coached  Chaplin in his restrained style. Chaplin made a tour of America from 1910-1912 ( just think 100 years ago at this time, he was in this country for the first time) courtesy of the Fred Carno troupe. When he got back to England Chaplin only stayed 5 months and the came back to the U.S.for a second tour. it was during this time that his act was seen by Mack Sennett, Fatty Arbuckle Minta Durfee and Mable Normand. Bennette, who owned Keystone Film Company, hired Chaplin. The first film " Making a Living" was considered by many not to be good. This is mainly due to Chaplin's initial difficulty adjusting to film acting, but Normand was able to confidence Bennette to give Chaplin another chance. mack Sennette didn't warm up to Chaplin at first and Chaplin believed he was going to be canned because Sennette and Normand had a fight. Instead Chaplin went onto become one of Keystone's biggest stars. Making his debut as "The Tramp" in 1914 in the movie "Kid Auto Races At Venice"
  So this is how Charlie Chaplin started in this country in the film industry. But even though he is what I consider to be the King of the Silent Films my favorite movie he did is actually a talkie, 1940 "The Great Dictator"

  This is because it points out what, at the time, American movie system not want to see... Hitler's hatred of the Jews. At the time America had a neutral relationship with Germany and didn't want to think or believe or maybe even care that anything like this was happening. But the movie became a hit with American audiences and it became Chaplin's highest grossing film. In 1997 it was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress and in 2000 it was listed at #37 on AFI's 100Years...100 Laughs list.

DAME ELIZABETH TAYLOR

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond  Taylor 1932-2011. We lost a precious jewel today in Dame Elizabeth. Starting with "There's One Born Every Minute" in 1942 to when she was 12 years old with "National Velvet" being her  breakout performance to her last piece of work the television movie "These Old Broads" with Debbie Reynolds in  2001.

 Through 8 husband and 7 marriages and many illnesses, never has a star shone so bright and never will  a star be so missed as DAME ELIZABETH TAYLOR. Her work for AIDS charities and countless other charities will live on forever because of Dame Elizabeth. 

As she said once "There's nothing like a dame" and there will never be another Dame Elizabeth.