I found it very suspicious that Copolla, Lucas and Spielberg just happened to be presenting the Best Director Oscar this year. Methinks they knew something the rest of us didn't. I found it fishy. Yes, Marty was due but I found it very interesting. Spielberg has been a presenter often, but not Copolla or Lucas.

She just doesn't do anything for me. She's model pretty, not pretty pretty and when it comes to ogle-value the latter is the only thing that matters much to me. I'm completely straight and Daniel Craig was still the visually more interesting thing on stage for me.

I'm pretty sure that was intended as a joke. He listed all of the shorts categories as surprising, meaning, I believe, that nobody knows anything about them. But he was a very annoying man, is he someone I should have recognized?

The shadow puppet people were generally a waste of time but the Snakes on a Plane one was cool.

I think historically the minor awards have been a place for the academy to gets its political groove on. No Man's Land was nowhere near the best foreign language movie of its year but it had a good "war is stupid, can't we all get along" theme.

I also found Melissa Etheridge's moment wonderful. She kissed her wife smack on the lips and then thanked her wife in her acceptance speech. It was romantic and classy. :) I also thought she sounded really good live as always. It doesn't seem to be an easy thing to do.

The awards show also made me want to see more and more foreign films. That montage was super.

I also must say that the intro into the show was really dull. A bunch of people we don't recognize by face in front of a white background. It went on too long and was a bad way to start the show.

The Foley Choir was great, but because they did their job so well it made them appear not to be doing the sound effects themselves which they were. The reaction from our home crowd was one of 'are they really doing that or are they pretending to do it while the real effects soundtrack plays'. Their applause was meager which had me thinking that the audience at the Kodak were wondering the same. I thought it was fantastic.

I loved the intro. All those non-major nominees getting a moment to say something and have fun, without the nervous pressure of not forgetting to thank someone. And it really drove home that, even if the audience doesn't care about those "smaller" awards, it's still a freaking Oscar and those people are the best in their business. Mixing in the no names with the big names, relating their excitement, accomplishments, disappointments. I though it was wonderful.

I would have liked to have seen who they were. CG their names in under their faces. Maybe that would have sold me on it. Also, for me, it showed how some people are way more comfortable behind the camera. ;)

I didn't see Nicole Kidman last night, but I always find her beautiful in films and, oddly, somewhat ghastly when I see her in a glamour shot in a magazine or what not. She always looks like every rounded surface in her head--forehead, cheeks and chin--has been pumped full of air and buffed to a high gloss.

The IM party was great. We ended up having a IRL impromptu party of sorts with TicTocDragon and family, The FrodoDisneyPotterPhiles and ISM. On IM, we had LSPE, MousePod (with H chiming in in the background) Coaster matt and Steph. It was fun! I like IM parties because you can actually hear the TV! ;)

Scottish brogue= definitely sexiest voice of the night

I could listen to the Babel director talk for ever. He's completely won me over with articulation.

The worst moments of the night were
*the Black/Farrel bit - until Reilly came in and saved the bad day
*Celene Dion

A few other random thoughts or responses:

Kidman looked great in red but I found the dress to be unfortunante. It really distracted from her beauty. (That and Daniel Craig ;))

The Oscars always have a political element. Contemporary films are speaking to what concerns many people and political issues happen to be much-discusssed at the moment. Besides, with 1 billion people watching the show, it's a great tool.


And, God help me if I hear the "they should just act" attitude.