Massive Upset

No. I’m not talking about any of the winners from last night’s academy awards ceremony. You know I was going to be watching, as this is a movie geek’s (guilty) biggest night of the year. I even missed the daily sunset toasts on the beach because daylight savings back in the States moved the show up to 7pm here in Panama.  I’ve raised two similarly affected movie geeks in my children. My son cleaves more to my interest in popular movies, including a shared fascination with horror movies. My daughter, on the other hand, loves the artistic, independent type movies. For this reason she usually roundly squashes me when it comes to Oscar predictions. We finally get to that massive upset. I beat my daughter, soundly, for the first time ever. Somehow, and I’m still trying to figure it out, I correctly predicted 19 out of the 23 categories.  It could be the Oscars are moving, incrementally, towards more popular films.

Daughter and FBR Prior to Oscars Party

My daughter had hurried back from a Curbside Girl reunion in the Poconos to host her annual Oscar party. When the ceremony finished, we made a quick call where she was almost as stunned as I was by my win. I was able to watch the ceremony comfortably in the condo for the second year in a row thanks to that same daughter and Wingman who gifted me the Super Stream which made it possible. I had just settled in to watch the end of the red carpet (although it was beige this year) about ten minutes before the start of the ceremony when the power went out! I remarked to my Favorite Panamanian earlier in the day that the power hadn’t gone out in over two weeks (incredibly stupid of me to tempt fate that way, I know). Some intense prayers were answered five minutes later when power was restored. It happened again half way through the telecast but once again it came back in less than five minutes. I may have liberally fractured the king’s English during those two episodes.

My Predictions

4 Acting Awards

I really enjoyed the telecast. Whomever they hired to run the show really had it moving along without some of the silly things that inevitably lengthen it. Jimmy Kimmel didn’t overdo it as host and there were some truly memorable moments. Everything Everywhere All at Once dominated and deservedly took home seven Oscars. I especially liked Yeoh’s and Jamie Lee Curtis’ (whom I’ve had a thinly disguised crush on for decades) wins. My Favorite Panamanian stayed up for the entire show and rooted for the Whale’s big win for Brendan Fraser who gave one of the best speeches of the night.

Plinio's

Earlier in the day we made a foray down the beach with our upstairs neighbors to my Favorite Panamanian’s preferred Las Lajas eating establishment – Plinio’s. The usual compliment of screeching pet parrots were present, trying to defend their banana supply from an intruding iguana. After the tasty lunch we explored further down the beach and found where the road ended, something I had always wondered about. So, a good day, especially for a self-confessed movie nut, a slapless Oscar ceremony.

The Iguana Watch

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RECURRING CHARACTERS:                                     

ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete - my daughter in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; CRC - Connecticut Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor of the big river; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during him her single days in Brooklyn; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd Musquetera (musketeer); Namesake Nephew – son of Great Aunt and Soxfather named after me; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member; PanaGals – female relatives /friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia – inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived & their spouses; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Soxfather - my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course