I can't wait for the Golden Globes. As I like to say, the best Golden Globes drinking game is the Golden Globes. Home viewers can pretend they're detached and cynical, but they're not nearly as detached and cynical as everyone sitting at the Golden Globes. Here's a quick jaunt back through five moments I still think about, brought to you by the esteemed Hollywood Foreign Press.
1. Elizabeth Taylor announcing -- ahem -- "Guh-LAAAAAAD-ee-ehh-tor" as Best Picture
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You know I love and appeciate Elizabeth Taylor like a post-accident Montgomery Clift, but even I had to laugh at the magic of her presence at the 2000 Golden Globes. (Yes, it was technically in 2001, but I think proper awards etiquette dictates that we name ceremonies by the year they honor. We're clear?) A discombobulated Liz read the teleprompter wrong, stared off at producers and asked, "Whaaaat?" and finally read Best Picture like she'd just discovered gold at Sutter's Mill.
2. Madonna's chesty Best Actress for Evita
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You knew she wasn't going to get nominated for an Oscar, and you can hear the dubiousness in Nicole Kidman's voice when she read off the name, but Madonna's win for Evita -- a movie I do not care about -- was pretty awesome. She had a post-Lourdes glow about her, as well as the goldenest globes of the ceremony. When she said into the mic, "I have been so incredibly blessed this past year," you could see the beginning of Kaballah Madonna emerging. Henna started manifesting under her sleeves during the speech.
3. Christine Lahti's bolt from the bathroom
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Chicago Hope isn't a TV show I think about often, but Christine Lahti's grace, humor, and coolness after winning Best Actress in a Drama was enough to class up the whole ceremony. She was in the bathroom when Michael J. Fox read off her name, and while the room waited for Lahti to emerge, Robin Williams approached the stage and hammed for a minute. We need one Oscars like this.
4. Ving Rhames' tearful humility
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Ving Rhames was a crowd favorite when he won for the TV biopic Don King: Only in America, and not just because he wept onstage like the sweetest man who ever lived. He also handed off his award to fellow nominee Jack Lemmon, who actually handled the awkward moment with a lot of charm. But look at that face. You just want to hug him and tell him that Golden Globe statue will love him forever.
5. Elton eats crow when Madonna wins the Best Original Song trophy.
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Look, I'm a human being: I know that Madonna's "Masterpiece" is probably the worst song of 2011. But I also knew that she'd win the Golden Globe for the W.E. track, despite the nay-saying of Elton John's husband David Furnish. When her name was read at last year's ceremony, I'm so glad the camera panned over to the under-joyed Elton, whose Queen Victoria grimace was truly a spectacle for the ages.
What are your favorite Golden Globes moments?
The Golden Globes air Sunday night at 8ET/5PT on NBC
