And the Oscar goes to...

JENN McKINLAY: It’s that season, folks. Award Show Season! From January through March, we have so many award shows. It’s crazy! We have the Golden Globes, the Critics Choice, the BAFTA, the SAG, and then the mother of them all–the Oscars. 

Here's the full list: https://deadline.com/feature/awards-season-calendar-oscars-emmys-golden-globes-list-1234814076/

Honestly, I have very mixed feelings about these award shows. First, how many awards do y’all need to give yourselves? Just sayin’. Second, if I’m not nominated (LOL) why should I care? And third, oooh, look at all the sparkly people–okay, bring me the popcorn!

See? I’m conflicted. Mostly, I think film award shows are a big snooze, especially if I didn’t get a chance to see every film that was nominated. But back when I was a librarian, my friend Joe Cajero and I would open up the Vanity Fair website while we worked the reference desk the morning after an awards show and we would dish about all of the outfits – boys and girls – and we’d laugh ourselves stupid doing terrible Joan Rivers-esque commentary. Good times!

Refreshingly, the Golden Globes this year were wonderful. A perfect antidote to last year’s Oscar debacle. Heartfelt and hilarious speeches from actresses and actors who have done their time in the industry and were FINALLY recognized. I loved it! (Probably, because I saw both Everything Everywhere All At Once and White Lotus). Although, full disclosure, I didn't watch the show but caught the highlights the next day, as you do.

How about it, Reds? Do you watch award shows? 

HALLIE EPHRON: The one award program I always watch is the TONY AWARDS. I’m a huge Broadway fan and you get to see scenes and musical numbers performed by the original Broadway casts. Priceless. And in the event that I DO get to NY and sometimes it seems like need to win the lottery (SO expensive!) I know which plays are at the top of my list when I get to the front of theTKTS discount ticket line.

Otherwise I do skip the other awards. Completely. Except for looking up what Tom and Lorenzo have to say about the outfits the next day.

Jenn: Love the fashion critiques! But in my eyes, Michelle Yeoh can do no wrong.

RHYS BOWEN: I’m with Hallie about the Tony’s. I love musical theater. But the others? The hideous dresses on the red carpet? All those speeches thanking the little people? No thanks. Having said that I do watch the Oscars sometimes.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I rather guiltily confess that I love the awards shows. My daughter and I like to message gossip as we watch. Of course I've seldom seen more than one or two films, but it gives me a chance to sample what I might like to watch. After the Golden Globes (which I really enjoyed) we watched The Fablemans and Everything Everywhere All At Once and loved both. I just saw the nominations for the Baftas and they have SNUBBED Spielberg and The Fablemans! I am shocked! Although it is a very Amercian-experience film, but still!

LUCY BURDETTE: Before Covid, we liked watching the Oscars and made a big effort to see most of the best pictures, and also the shorts. (The Tropic Cinema in Key West brought these to town, and we always felt a bit like insiders.) These days we’ve only been to the movies once, so I doubt we’ll be watching anything!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I always used to watch the Tony awards and the Oscars with Youngest, and Debs talking about “message gossiping” makes me realize I should make a date with her to enjoy the shows together. They’re always so much more fun when you’re with other people, virtually or not. 

One of the things I love to do when award shows are on? Follow the Twitter stream. Pick a hashtag and stick with it - there is always so much delightful wit and snark on display. 

OMG, We need to do our own Jungle Reds Oscar group-watch livestream. 

Jenn: YES!!! That would be a hoot!

HANK PHILLIPI RYAN: Julia! We DO! I will confess that I love any kind of competition about anything. It is SO sad, and so un-self-actuallzed, and I feel very guilty about it. 

You have to remember, if you will, that I was maybe 10 when I watched my first Miss America, and back then, to a little girl  in the fifties, it was a really fun thing to watch with my mother. And actually aspirational.  I still think it’s complicated. And that’s  probably another blog. 

But awards shows for productions–again, I love competitions, as unenlightened as it seems.  I love the clothes! I really do. And I love the speeches, and I love hating when they play music to stop them. And I love watching the fake approval on the faces of the audiences (and losers.)

 I don’t believe that “winning” actually means that the thing was the best of the things,  but as someone who has won (and lost) it’s much more fun to win, and it’s actually gratifying.  I really enjoy seeing the winners be happy.. And fun to see something that you love win. Like-yeah, I knew that.

And yes,the Tonys, that’s a different deal. You get to see scenes, and that’s great. That’s totally value added.

And the Grammys are a great way of finding out what music you’re supposed to know about but don’t. And  again, like all of them, SO much fun to yell at the clothing choices!

How about you, Readers? Any award show watchers out there? Yea or nay?

Sequins and Spanx

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Did anyone watch the Golden Globes on Tuesday night? I'm not a huge awards show junkie, but I do like to watch them, partly to see what movies and TV I have missed in the previous year and might now want to watch--and then there's the FASHION! (My daughter and I like to watch together virtually and message our takes.) What is a better antidote to the continuously depressing news cycle than an evening of looking at gorgeous clothes--on the men as well as the women. The Globes did not disappoint! 

Even if you didn't tune in live, all the showstoppers are all over the internet now. Here's Vogue's take. And here's the New York Times which I hope you can see subscription-free. Sorry I can't add any photos of the dresses and tuxes but they will all be under copyright.

I've never seen so many sequins--it was definitely a glittery night!

Some of my faves were Jenna Ortega's ethereal Gucci (although I thought some of the other bandeau gowns came off a bit like partially wrapped mummy...), Michelle Williams rocked Gucci, too, in her wonderful sea ruffle dress. Michelle Yeoh was stunning in Armani (I was so thrilled for her win!), and I loved Selena Gomez in Valentino, and Letitia Wright in Prada. Claire Danes in chenille bedspread by Giambattista, maybe not so much. 

The men looked great, too. Loved all the pink, especially Jerrod Carmichael's pink tux. 

Of course, contemplating all the hours spent in Spanx and push-ups and heels, I was just as glad to be watching, not wearing.

Any frivolous fashion favorites, dear REDs and readers? And what about the awards themselves? What winners (or losers) in the various categories shouldn't be missed?

It's Award Season! a guest post from Lynn Chandler Willis

 Grace Koshida is the winner of Tracee de Hahn's Swiss Vendetta! Grace, please contact Tracee at tldehahn at Yahoo.

In addition, we're offering one lucky commentor a FREE copy of Tell Me No Lies by today's guest, Lynn Chandler Willis!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Lynn Chandler Willis knows a bit about awards. Her novel, Shamus-Award finalist, Wink of an Eye, won the St. Martin's Press/PWA Best First P.I. Novel, making her the first woman in a decade to win the national contest.And we all know winning a St. Martin's Press contest is a guarantee of (ahem) excellence.

Lynn decided to move her setting from Wink, Texas to her home state of North Carolina - and use her own history as a small-town newspaper owner - for the debut of her new series, TELL ME NO LIES.

Ava Logan, single mother and small business owner, lives deep in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains, where poverty and pride reign. As publisher of the town newspaper, she’s busy balancing election season stories and a rash of ginseng thieves. And then the story gets personal. After her friend is murdered, Ava digs for the truth all the while juggling her two teenage children, her friend’s orphaned toddler, and her own muddied past. Faced with threats against those closest to her, Ava must find the killer before she, or someone she loves, ends up dead.

I could quote you the good reviews TELL ME NO LIES got from Kirkus, Publishers' Weekly, and Margaret Maron, but my favorite is a Goodreads reviewer: "Clever mystery with several viable suspects. Romance, children and a dog add to its charm." 

Forget hype and plaudits - that gets right down to what REALLY makes a book we want to read!

The Golden Globes were handed out a few weeks ago. I didn't watch—I happily cut the cable when the monthly bill became my single largest utility bill and my little antenna doesn't pick up our local NBC affiliate. Although I didn't watch, I read all about the awards on line and the overwhelming thought from many was “I haven't seen any of these movies!” And there lies my problem.

What constitutes Best Movie in our minds doesn't always jive with the voting board's opinion. Why? Because we're commoners. If we were to appear in an episode of Downton Abbey, we'd be the downstairs help while 'the board' rambles around upstairs oblivious to the common folks likes and dislikes.

By the time this post runs, the Academy Awards nominations will have been announced and chances are, you may not have seen any of those movies either. That's not to say the movies aren't good or even award worthy. They're just not the popular choice for weekend date night with the commoner.

Look at some of the titles of box office record breakers: Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Jurassic World, Marvel's The Avengers...do you see any Best Movie nominees in there? Yeah, me neither.

So my problem with the elite of the elite award shows is I feel like I'm being talked down to because I enjoyed Marvel's The Avengers. It's snobbery. Pure and simple. I will proudly stand up for all those high-grossing, special effects laden, escapism movies. It's like...shhh....we must whisper this part...writing or reading genre fiction.

Sure, our traditional and cozy mysteries, our thrillers and romantic suspense, our private eyes and amateur sleuths may never bring home a Pulitzer but they can sure collect an Anthony, an Edgar, an Agatha or a Shamus. And those awards, as a commoner, are awards I can relate to.

My grandson Casey isn't so sure about his twin sister Ireland's singing abilities

Several years ago I got caught up in the hype of a certain movie. It was the “must see” movie of the decade. It was a remake of a remake of a remake, based on a breath-taking classic novel considered to be one of the best of all time, a movie based on the record-shattering box office musical play. My daughter and I went and sat in the packed theater watching Hugh Jackman suffer, and sing. My daughter leans over and whispers to me, “Wolverine's singing.”

And that started the giggles. And we couldn't stop. While the entire theater (minus the two of us) wept and jumped to their feet in a standing ovation shouting BRAVO! BRAVO! my daughter and I giggled. The more we tried to suppress it, the worse it became until we couldn't catch our breath while our shoulders shook with silent laughter.

It wasn't the movie, or Hugh Jackman—or Russell Crowe!—singing. It was the pretentiousness of it all that got to us. Give me an Agatha or an Edgar or an Anthony or a Shamus award any day.

Have you ever seen a “must see” movie, or read a “must-read” book you just didn't get? 

Discover more about Lynn Chandler Willis and TELL ME NO LIES at her site. Discuss books on Goodreads, friend her on Facebook, or follow her on Twitter as @LynnCWillis