8 Better Ways of Bearing the Oscars During the Ceremony
List (with a few poems featured)
By a good majority of TV viewers in America and beyond, this year’s Oscars ceremony will be skipped. Apathy of the Academy Awards is at an ultimate high. Modern-day real life and all of its drama is giving great competition to anything and everything cinema presents. Movies are not as spetacular as they used to. Most of the nominated films are barely seen with mid to horrid box office. Year after year, show-attending celebrities have become less recognizable and more unlikeable. And well, the Oscar show itself has gotten stale and become a snooze fest. Moreover, smug Hollywood is such a turn off these days, showcasing utter disdain for its very own audience of movie fans.. HOWEVER….there will be scores of film geeks, Oscar fashion aficionados, traditional boomer (or other gen) Oscar viewers and those dedicated to hate-watching who will tune in to the ceremony deemed “Hollywood’s biggest night”. Count me in the latter group of folks, even with some reservation of using “hate” to describe watching. It’s a strange kind of pleasure in the experience of watching and judging the presentation. Such great theater the whole thing is really- don’t shame me, pretty please!
Anyhow, If you’re going to bear the annual Oscar trainwreck, s- show with me, here are some entertaining ways to get through the ceremony:
Prepare Oscar Party Food
The Oscars can be used as a great excuse to throw a party. Have some tasty ones for your guests. Be inspired by the Foreign Film noms for appetizers (check out corresponding recipes):
Latvia- for the film, Flow: meat pies. Latvian natives, like other Eastern Europeans, love meat and pastry
Brazil- for the film, I’m Still Here: cheese bites (fao de queijo) Popular pop-in-your-mouth delight. Grab a few boxes of Brazi Bites in the freezer section at your fave supermarket featuring this international item
Germany- for The Seed of the Sacred Fig: fig bites. Make from scratch or get Fig Newtons. (By the Way, this is not a German themed film, but Persian. The director fleed from Iran to Germany and got the film released)
Denmark- for The Girl with the Needle: Danish shortbread cookies Plain beige goodness of shortbread. Maybe the best thing in your mouth besides cheese?
Mexico/France for Emilia Perez: dulce de leche crepes. A rich Franco Mex combo, also good for your Cinco de Mayo party
Play Games at the Party
Besides playing an Oscar prediction game of who will win Best Picture and other categories, the Oscar Drinking Game is a main party activity. Bring out the booze or make it a mocktail affair.
Get Drinking game suggestions on Drink Playground for 2025
Sample Drinking Prompts for Oscars 2025:
Have a sip when someone says “I thank the Academy” during a winner’s speech or the term, “red carpet” at any point of the show
Take a shot someone mentions how handsome Timothée Chalamet is or mentions Meryl Streep’s name
Say Cheers and drink up when someone stumbles a little or hard while wearing a long gown
OR….How about gathering up guests to do The Wild Robot brain break? It’s kinda juvenile- but fun. Work off the food and drink all the while with the break suggestions.
The Wild Robot is nominated for Best Animation Feature
Hate Watch Along with Film Threat
(Or your fave podcast during its own watch party)
The Oscars make for good mockery. There’s no shortage of podcasts that will stream a live Oscar (hate) watch party. As a recommendation, tune in on Film Threat, which features a cast of non-stuffy film critics who provide the fun and color commentary with banter in reaction to Oscar moments, from the opening sequence on to winners announced, speeches and hit-or-miss segments.
Follow Film Threat, a cinema enthusiast podcast and publication,
on You Tube or Rumble
Distract yourself with Coloring
Print out or online color your fave actor from TheColor.com or Top Coloring Pages
Color Sean Connery (or choose to color a cat, a nature landscape or something cool)
while the Oscars play on screen muted or otherwise.
Read Better than the Movies By Lynn Painter
If Rom-commy YA is your thing, this story between Wes and Liz can be a good filler of time while the Oscars drag along for 3 hours plus. Or, find other novel of your liking, especially one that adapted into a movie.
Follow Cultural Hollywood Stories on Substack
May I suggest to you…
it’s all about the truly indie spirit and NO CGI / AI in the film making process with JB. Oh, how un-Hollywood of her!Read up on
cultural Hollywood ‘stacks
Catch Up on My Hollywood- Inspired Poetry
You can hate Hollywood, as an entertainment industry and as the real-life infested enclave of L.A. all you want BUT still LIKE AND SHARE my poetry about the place and showbiz. Poetry: Hollywood # 1, Hollywood #2, Better That, Henvy Cavill, Celeb Actress
Hollywood is Dead
My Oscar Predictions
About who will win what…uh… who cares? About the ratings for the broadcast? I say, they will be down 25'% for the year before. About the political angle to the awards? Won’t be as obtuse but there will be a few mentions about Trump, climate change, DEI and LGBTQ.
