A Golden Moment

The Oscars were given out this past Sunday and, as usual, the event was shown in a very long telecast. As is to be expected, there's plenty of post-Oscar buzz and controversy. A lot of people are up in arms about the omission of Farrah Fawcett and Bea Arthur during the "In Memorium" segment. People can't seem to decide whether Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin as co=hosts was good or bad. I, personally, could have done without that Interpretive Dance crap ("Okay, you two run across the stage, and slide. Now leap in the air. Now run some more. Okay, now you two do the same thing, and everyone in the background--twirl!") Talk about a waste of time! i would much rather have just listened to the orchestra play the music while clips from the various films ran.

My favorite Oscar moment, though, came with the announcement of the winner for "Best Actress", and involved Sandra Bullock, the winner, and her friend and fellow nominee, Meryl Streep.

The two ladies have been carrying on a friendly Oscar feud ever since the nominees were announced. I heard Sandra Bullock telling the tale on the David Letterman show several weeks ago, so if my re-telling is faulty, blame my lousy memory.

On the day the Best Actresses nominees were announced, Sandra sent Meryl a bouquet of flowers along with a lovely handwritten card that read, "You're going down, bitch!" Meryl, in turn, cut the heads off of the flowers and sent them back to Sandra with a note saying, "Bring it on!" The two have been playfully taking shots at the other as the Oscars approached.

That brings us to Sunday night. When Sandra was announced as the winner, she stood, hugged her husband and a few of the other people she was sitting with, and then started across the aisle to where Meryl Streep was sitting. Sandra leaned down and reached out to give Meryl a hug. Meryl, in turn, reached out to embrace her friend--at which point, Sandra pulled back, aborting the hug, turned her back on Meryl and headed for the stage, leaving Meryl hugging empty air!

That's when my favorite moment occurred. As Sandra Bullock walked away........

.....Meryl Streep gave a laugh that said, "Oh, YOU!", reached out, and gave Sandra a swat on the behind--something, I must admit, I wouldn't mind doing!

Sandra didn't acknowledge Meryl's love tap in any way, and just proceeded to the stage. She gave a lovely acceptance speech, and got in another shot or two at Meryl in the process.

I think the Oscar telecast would be more tolerable if we could more moments like that one. The award for "Best Swat" goes to..........