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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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 3rd 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
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