The Golden Globes

As the award show most famous for predicting the Oscars (who's the Hollywood Foreign Press, anyway?) I especially like the laid back Golden Globes because there's no telling what would happen.

Sure enough, last night's show had its share of the unexpected. Some of the best: George Clooney thanking indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff ("Just because..."); Geena Davis pulling an aww prank about a little girl wanting to be president someday because of her show Commander In Chief ("That didn't actually happen"); Steven Carrell reading a speech "written" by his wife which mentions his wife several times; Hugh Laurie "randomly" picking names of people to thank from his pocket.

And since I consider haute couture wearable art, it was also fun handicapping the red carpet. Whites, blacks and reds dominated the evening. My picks for best dressed: Keira Knightley, statuesque in a white Valentino with a metallic braided belt; Marcia Cross, regal in a coral Roman-inspired Marc Bouwer; and Ziyi Zhang, gorgeous in a romantic, sweeping lime green gown by Giorgio Armani.

Really, almost all the ladies were impeccably dressed. The few notable faux pas: Mariah Carey's gown was three sizes too small, Pamela Anderson's slingback gown made her look like she's nursing twins while Gwyneth Paltrow who's actually expecting looked dowdy in her lacy Balenciaga. Penelope Cruz's hair was so big it dwarfed her; Drew Barrymore should've worn a bra and Rachel Weisz's makeup was too dark. And what's this, Reese Witherspoon's supposedly vintage Chanel really wasn't and was, gasp, worn three years ago by Kirsten Dunst?

As for the awards, my picks for the major categories -- Brokeback Mountain for best picture, Ang Lee for best director, Phillip Seymour Hoffman for best actor and Felicity Huffman for best actress -- all won. Notable shutout was Steven Spielberg's Munich, which didn't even get nominated for Best Picture.

Overall, it was a good night for the Golden Globes. On to the Oscars!

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