Nerd. Nerd. Nerd it up. Nerd, nerd, nerd it up.
You wanna know the way we roll in the Miller family? I’ll show you how.
Somehow, casual Oscar viewing parties in my family have transformed into a sprawling affair sponsored by my Mom’s commitment to themes and unparalleled — near pathological — attention to detail. Above you can see our costumes — dressing up as characters from films of the past year. My mom, who was originally going to be a Dreamgirl, eventually just settled on The Queen (when I arrived at her house, she was finishing up the costume and asked for my advice on shoes. “Something sensible,” I said.). I was Idi Amin from The Last King of Scotland. My brother was James Bond and/or George Reeve from Hollywoodland. And the gold star for excellence goes to my sister-in-law for her interpretation of Olive from Little Miss Sunshine.
The fete took a seriously huge amount of effort on my mom’s part. It included:
- Popcorn in movie popcorn boxes.
- Appetizers of olives, sushi and artichoke hearts.
- Fruity alcoholic beverages — lemon drops and blueberry mojitos.
- Swag bags filled with chocolate and assorted tchotchkes. And an IRS form.
- Lamb as an entree.
- A long piece of red vinyl from the front door do the main room.
- Miniature grasshopper pies served in star-shaped tins.
On a side note, here are my two favorite quotes from my mom of the night.
- After drinking half of a lemon drop, my five-foot-one mom had to walk up to the kitchen to get something. “I can barely make it up the stairs. I’m so drunk.”
- Upon seeing Joan Rivers turn to the camera and seeing her newest round of plastic surgery: “Oh Joan! What’s left?!”