By Elyse Breeze, @ElyseBreeze
I’d like to thank the academy for Ellen DeGeneres’ sly “digs” at her celebrity audience; Bradley Cooper and his exceptional selfie-taking abilities; and, of course, a tuxedo-clad Harrison Ford for taking one too many slices of pizza.
The 86th annual Academy Awards has officially hit the record books and is now known as the year that Ellen broke Twitter.
Moments You Won’t Forget
The 2014 Oscars did not disappoint in wit and hilarity considering Ellen DeGeneres was running the show. On Sunday night, Ellen surprised her audience by ordering pizza and asking Brad Pitt for a helping hand in passing it out.
Earlier in the show, she took a poll of the audience and asked who else was starving and who would be up for pizza. When it arrived, she called on Harvey Weinstein to tip the delivery guy and added, “No pressure — just one billion people watching. Do whatever you feel is right.” She then passed around Pharrell Williams’ hat and collected money from the audience to pay for the pizza.
And who could forget Ellen’s selfie that “broke Twitter” on Sunday night that exceeded 2 million retweets before 1 a.m. The photo included Ellen, Cooper (taking the photo), Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lawrence, Channing Tatum, Kevin Spacey, Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Lupita Nyong’o and her brother Junior, Julia Roberts, and Jared Leto’s eye.
[Image courtesy of cnn.com]
Performances
Pop singer, Pink, clad in a beautiful red and racy gown, gave tribute to the 75th anniversary of “The Wizard of Oz” by singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Similarly, Glenn Close presented the annual “In Memoriam” tribute, and Bette Midler sang “Wind Beneath My Wings” during the segment.
U2 performed its Oscar nominated song “Ordinary Love” from the movie, “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom;” Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Ezra Koenig of Vampire Weekend performed a spectacular duet of “The Moon Song.”
History Made
While there were few memorable speeches at Sunday’s awards, “12 Years a Slave,” actress and Oscar winner for “Best Picture” and “Best Actress in a Supporting Role,” Lupita Nyong’o stood out.
Nyong’o gave tribute to Patsey, the enslaved woman that she portrayed in the film, explaining, “It doesn’t escape me for one moment that so much joy in my life is because of so much pain in someone else’s. When I look down at this golden statue, may it remind me and every little child: No matter where you come from, your dreams are valid.”
And, as for Leonardo DiCaprio, he was snubbed, yet again, for his fourth Oscar, “Best Actor in a Leading Role,” for his performance in “The Wolf of Wall Street” to Matthew McConaughey for his performance in Dallas Buyer’s Club.
Another surprise to most was Jennifer Lawrence’s loss to Nyong’o for “Best Actress in a Supporting Role.”
As for the rest of the awards, many say that the winners were very predictable this year and there were no shocking surprises.
See a full list of the winners at: http://www.eonline.com/news/516416/2014-oscar-winners-the-complete-list
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