OSCARS

Best reason for watching the Oscar ceremony last night was the classic movie opening lengthy tracking shot of the regal Regina King swaggering from outside through the entrance down a long long hall into the crowd and to the podium while wearing one of the top two dresses of the evening (the other worn by the equally regally swaggering Olivia Davis). So right from in front it was the coolest Oscar Award Show ever.

And I loved Questlove's d.j.ing the show's music, and that the full nominated songs performances were aired on the pre-show and only sampled during the show. And I loved the venue and set up, though having some of the presenters speak from the audience mostly didn't work for me.

As for the nominations and winners, they were all deserved but not all my choices (I picked Viola Davis and Chadwick Boseman for best leading actors and LaKeith Stanfield for supporting male) but if I had my way the four acting categories would be non-gender and changed to three categories, Best Lead Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Category 1 (in over half the movie) and Best Supporting Actor, Category 2 (in less than half the movie).

The most surprising thing to me was that despite the fact I turn 79 in May and haven't lived in LA in 22 years and have been retired from acting in, or writing for, movies since my brain operation over eleven years ago, my track record for seeing at least one person at every Oscars that I've dated—since two years before I became involved in commercial filmmaking—continues. Oh lucky me.