From the Ledge

This Oscar-related post is written by guest blogger Jen.

Here’s a rundown of my uber-glammy weekend in the City of Angels during Oscar 2008!

Best Oscar Weekend Moments

• Most celebrities spotted in one Oscar weekend. Count ‘em, 39!! The fun began spotting Anne Meara and the most downloaded girl on the Internet, Cindy Margolis, lunching (separately) at the Chateau Marmont. Margolis was sitting at one table, while her voluminous breasts sat at another. The place to really spot the stars on Oscar weekend is at The Independent Spirit Awards, held in a big tent on the beach in Santa Monica. We were right behind the barricade and saw Brad and an obviously very pregnant Angelina, and the amazing Don Cheadle who ran through the line high-fiving all of us! We were intrigued by the stars who take time to come over and shake hands and sign autographs (Aaron Eckhart, Keri Russell, Javier Bardem) and those who don’t (Brad and Angelina, Meg Ryan and Cate Blanchett). The real secret is knowing what hotel to stay in. You’re not going to spot the stars at the big business travel chains, honey. But at our plush Art Deco digs at The Sunset Tower Hotel where our Girl’s Night Out Oscar Weekend was being celebrated, other hotel guests included Sean Penn and Cate Blanchett (code name = Miss London). The Tower Bar restaurant at the hotel is a stready stream of stars and having dinner there while we happily consumed $500 worth of wine (believe me, that’s not so much in West Hollywood) in the lobby bar were Tilda Swinton, Colin Farrell, Josh Lucas, and Lionel Ritchie.
• Best maitre’d. Dimitri Dimitrov at The Sunset Tower-a charmer in the tradition of the old school restaurant captains, who happily sent free desserts over to us and was like one of the girls as he shared his excitement about Oscar weekend with us.
• Best waiter. Keith, a Shakespearean actor who doubled as our favorite server in the chic Sunset Tower bar.
• Best hotel bar. You can’t beat the ambiance and star sightings in the lobby bar at The Sunset Tower, although it’s nearly matched by Bar Nineteen12 at The Beverly Hills Hotel, with the generously poured Gray Goose martinis and free spicy nuts, not to mention Kristen Bell from “Veronica Mars” sitting at the VIP table right next to us.

Red Carpet

• Hollywood Glamour Survives. Jennifer Garner not only had a fantastic dress and chic, modern hair, but handled the frightening Gary Busey with aplomb. Nicole Kidman was a lovely pregnant past Oscar winner, although she did look like she walked through some leftover Christmas tinsel with that necklace. Marion Cotillard, looked oh-so-French and chic in a fashion forward Gaultier. Believe me, her dress was just lovely in person. Jessica Alba could teach the scraggly young starlets like Cameron Diaz a thing or two, with her always perfect hair and fitted beautiful gowns. Saorise Ronan and Miley Cyrus were age appropriate in cute yet formal gowns, while at the other end of the spectrum Helen Mirren and Ruby Dee were fetching in dresses that suited their figures and maturity.
• Too Much Black and Red. Showing their tendency to flock to more of the same and inhale the same glue, Hollywood’s top stylists dressed star after star in black, which mostly made the dreary weather even drearier, or red which was becoming Nancy Reaganesque after the fifth or sixth appearance on the Red Carpet. How refreshing it was then to see Keri Russell in oyster gray and Renee Zellweger in metallic (although what was with her constant fretting with her short shaggy hairdo?).
• Fashion misses. Jennifer Hudson-a rebound from last year’s fashion low, but white was a curious color for her frame, and there was way too much going on with the dangly earrings and jeweled neckline, not too mention the visible back fat. Sorry, it’s true! Not sure about Hillary Swank’s Boys Don’t Cry hair. Ellen Page, who looked like a waiter in a black suit and white tailored shirt when we saw her at the Independent Spirit Awards, looked stumpy and frumpy in her unfitted black dress at the Oscars. George Clooney’s girlfriend was supposedly wearing Valentino (although it looked more like JC Penney promwear), and her flat hair was matched only by her constantly vacant expression. What is George thinking? Is this really someone he can talk about Darfur with? Daniel Day-Lewis’ wife, Rebecca Miller, apparently did not inherit any sense for Hollywood glamour from her dad’s former wife, Marilyn Monroe. There certainly wasn’t much Oscar oomph in her bejeweled and beribboned monstrosity. The Rock and John Travolta apparently got the same $5 haircut at Fantastic Sam’s, and Travolta’s wife Kelly Preston looked like she was an overripe peach that had been left out in the sun. Cameron Diaz continues to stun Oscar viewers year-after-year with a series of crumply couture gowns and shaggy unfinished hair.
• Stars we spotted on Oscar night. At the Sunset Tower Hotel, we thought Tilda Swinton was glowing and not as severe as she might have looked to all of you on TV. Oh, and she looks even taller in person, if that’s possible. You gotta love a practical Scottish gal who can’t take the time to be bothered with make-up. Callista Flockhart, with her beau Harrison Ford, looked even lovelier-great backline on that flowy dress. And, yes, Sean Penn is definitely now with Petra Nemcova-we saw them bounding out of the hotel at 1 am to hit more Oscar parties. Patricia Clarkson was teeny tiny, and very smiley.

Oscar Show

• Francis still can’t beat me. We were both 5 out of 6 in our predictions, with Francis’ wrongly waaay-out-there prediction of an Ellen Page win, while I missed the boat with my Amy Ryan nod (in retrospect, that movie just didn’t get the timing right and peaked way too early in Oscar season).
• A fun and fast show. Jon Stewart was hilarious throughout, with hardly any prep time due to the strike. He nicely recovered from Oscar jitters on his first Oscar outing a few year’s ago and this time around almost got a smile from the constipated looking Tommy Lee Jones. Loved the Gaydolf Tittler joke and his jibe about Vanity Fair perhaps inviting some lowly writers to their vaunted Oscar party. Who needs Billy Crystal or Steve Martin if Jon Stewart can be this timely and fresh? I do think they need to ditch the Kodak Theater and instead find a ballroom with lots of liquor, to loosen the crowd up a bit. The show’s pacing felt tight and brisk and the space between the early big awards and the end didn’t feel unbearably long, as it has in the past (maybe it’s just that’s it so nice that the show ends at 8:45 pm on the West Coast). The many Oscar film montages were fast and fun, and even touching (how can you not tear up seeing Cary Grant and John Wayne take bows in their final Oscar show appearances?). The tribute to 98-year old production designer was moving, and his speech was amazing (how many others in Hollywood can tell stories about working with “Hitch?”). But, c’mon, does the Academy really have to wait till these illustrious veterans are 98 before they give them their Oscars??!!
• Was it an Oscar set or a hospital wing? The Oscar stage, with its stark, cavernous vibe and quasi-Olympic rings twirling behind Amy Adams while she sang was apparently one casualty of the just recently settled writers’ strike which cut the preparation time to a minimum.
• How cool would it be to be in their families? Just loved Javier Bardem’s touching dedication to his mother and grandparents and Daniel Day-Lewis’s lyrical homage to his father, grandfather and sons, and of course his homage to his wife. Daniel Day-Lewis is the new Tom Hanks. Maybe he can someday fill the Poet Laureate gig vacated by his dad.

On to next year! The Sunset Tower just might have to be my new West Coast base.

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