Sometimes the Spaghetti Likes to be Alone.

Yeah, the spaghetti, Greta Garbo.... and me.

Why do I seek to be alone? Well, for those of you who did not personally witness my shame on Oscar night, here is the low down:

First ballot: this is the one I filled in at work. Oh - hold it... that's right, I filled in two ballots at $5 each. I came in.... last. And lost $10.

Second ballot: this was a two-person ballot with Dr. M. I figured, hey, I'm a bit of a film nut and despite Dr. M.'s magnetic healing powers or whatever else he gets up to in St. Ciaran's, I thought this was a sure bet. Well, now I owe him dinner and a trip to Soma Chocolates. Not that I begrudge the prize, as he deserves it for the last rest-cure at the very least. But really...

Third ballot: this was the ballot that was held at my place while we watched the Oscars. Actually it was a really funny evening. The power went out just as the Oscars were about to start! We lit more candles and I made a few calls to my folks to get the updates on the awards as the minutes slipped by. When the power came back on an hour later, we still had two and a half hours of Oscars and that is absolutely plenty. It did give the proceedings a certain frisson of the unexpected. Well, the ballot prize traditionally is that all the losers cook the winner a dinner of his/HER choice of cuisine. As it turns out Laura and I co-lost to the guys... WHO ALL CO-WON. So... now the ladies are cooking the gentlemen dinner. Oh... did I mention their cuisine of choice? They want us to recreate the dinner at the centre of the movie Big Night (1996). Chuh! No big deal. Just that bloody big timpano thing, I think.

And that movie provided some great quotes:

"Bite your teeth into the ass of life."
(Ian Holm as Pascal)

"Sometimes the spaghetti likes to be alone" and "To eat good food is to be close to God."
(Tony Shalhoub as Primo)

Read it here: next year I am not entering any ballots! Honest guv.