What will you do instead of watching Oscar? [and now Oscar discussion]
 

Here is a thread for the rest of us...

The Oscars are tonight. What are you plans for the event?

I plan to use it as an excuse to get to bed early. I like sleep.

Of course I suppose sleeping is the functional equivalent of actually watching the show so perhaps it's a wash in my case....

I currently have no particular plans. I'm thoroughly uninterested in most of the nominee battles so won't be watching for that.

If I am conveniently located when it starts I will probably watch the beginning to see how Hugh Jackman and the new approach is going. If it is compelling (highly unlikely) then I might keep watching.

Most likely I will watch a movie (or more Quincy episodes) via Roku.

We'll do some grocery shopping, then probably watch a movie.

They're on tonight?

I will be watching The Amazing Race.

I'll be watching Amazing Race or listening to the boys play Rock Band, pick a number.

My son reminded me that we watched last year so I go to find them and guess what they're on ABC, the one channel we don't get! I wish Dish would get this mess figured out and soon!

Don't worry, so far, you're not missing ANYTHING...

Who do I have to kick in the nuts over that stupid opening number?

I liked it. Interesting approach for the nominee presentment. I assume they'll just be doing that for the big ones.

You'll have to let me know in the afterlife as I've already jumped out the window in boredom. Give me the clips.

Yeah, I think it was a great way to do it if it were just an industry event. But not great for a TV event.

But the clip sequences weren't interesting either.

I'm switching back to my movie and will fast forward through it later.

Putting together IKEA furniture, laundry, probably some yoga. Exciting stuff.

-fight with Microsoft about our "newly repaired" 360 which after returning to our home will no longer hold an internet connection-drops xBox live constantly-refuses to allow users to access downloaded content- and their tech support treats us like idiots.
:rolleyes:

We are watching things in delay, so...

Mickey Rourke is an ass

Madz and I are watching Ugly Betty off the DVR.

Favorite dresses:

Marissa Tomei
Amy Adams
Kate Winslet
Taraji P. Henson
Miley Cyrus

Vanessa Hudgens is really cute
Taraji P. Henson was simply wonderful on the red carpet.

We LOVED the opening!

I loved it too.

Loved Jack Black's comment that he does one Dreamworks project a year then he takes those earnings and puts them on Pixar at the Oscars. :D

Me three.

Who's Oscar?

I'm curious if the Oscars are getting extra coverage down in Australia since it seems to be a mostly Australian production this year.

This guy



Every year we have a super long show dedicated to him.

The musical number blew chunks

Oh I am so excited that Penn won.

The one thing you'd think they couldn't f*ck up was the memorial. But they did it.

Seriously! I was getting motion sickness from the constant swaying of the camera.

Milk didn't get Best Picture. Damn! We was cheated again!

Loved that Penn got Best Actor. Double loved his speech.

Slumdog Millionaire... Best picture? Really?

Jerry Lewis looked a lot better than I expected

You won't believe this: They're being shown tonight from 9:30pm to Midnight !?!?

Where's the ratings? Why so late?

Did I miss Heath Ledger? I didn't see him. It was very hard to read the names.


I think that's the same as the east coast timing here.

I think he died right before the Oscars last year, so he wasn't included this year, right?

Well, the only movies of note we saw this year were Frost/Nixon and Dark Knight, so I can make no comment about any of the big category winners.

I will comment muchly about the short film winners. HORRIBLE CHOICES!!! HORRIBLE! HORRIBLE! Boo, boo, boo, and triple that. Boo.

Okay, with that out of the way, LOVED the show itself. The presentation of the big acting awards was fabulous, though after the amazing, heartfelt presentations for best actress, the old men reading their lines off teleprompters for best actor fell kinda flat.

Heath died in '07 or early '08 and was in last year's memorial.

I really liked the memorial this year. The multi-screen presentation, a beautiful live song performance. What wasn't to like?

Nicole Kidman was gorgeous. What the hell happened to Sophia Loren. Ouch.

Conspicuously absent were, Jack Nicholson and Samuel L. Jackson's hat.

But yeah, I though the writing, staging, and overall showmanship were outstanding this year, a real cut above what they've offered in a long time.

I wonder what they're cutting then because the show was a bit over three hours long.

And yes Ledger was a very late addition to last year's In Memorium. Though I wondered if they'd have him again since he was nominated.

Just looked up a picture of Loren, her sea monster has definitely died (look a joke that only Lani will get).

I have to agree - really enjoyed the show this year. Of course there were highs and lows.

Loved the opening number - hated the musical number.

I did like the presentation of the acting awards. It gave new meaning to the overused "It's an honor just to be nominated" statement. But yeah, the best actor presenters were generally awkward.

Torn on the memorial. I loved the multi-screens, but the camera work made it hard to focus - they actually pulled back at times to the point of not being able to read the captions. I generally like Queen Latifah, but I thought her performance was off. Not really a good song for her.

Overall, a B+.

Agreement. I really liked the new format, even though my friend just told me he thought the ego stroking was too much to stomach. I agreed that a few of the remarks were over the top, but not so offensive that I could give you an example. And I can't even remember the last time I saw Shirley MacLaine! I enjoyed it.


My mom came over and watched with us (she is 83) and cried at that song. She loved the whole show. And actually, I wouldn't have even watched the show at all if she had not asked. I didn't see enough of the nominated films to make the effort worth sitting through the boring bits, but did for Mom.

Hugh Jackman didn't offend me at all. I thought he did a fine job.

Dude, she's like, 500 years old, give her break. Well, ok, I just checked and she is actually 74. I am sure she's spent just plenty of money and had a lot of work done, but I think she is still beautiful. Her dress was lovely and her hair looked a lot better than Kate Winslet's -- who my mother insisted was wearing a wig.

Yay new format, yay Hugh Jackman! Nearly all of the planned stuff was perfect. I loved the way they handled everything that had been annoying in the past. Medleys, thank you. Movie clips were blended very well. Liked the nods to prior films. Presenters were mostly great. The sets were fantastic. Jackman out-BillyCrystaled Billy Crystal. :snap:

Can't believe Wall-E didn't get something for sound. Sound was the entire movie.

Nicole Kidman is the only person who can pull of feathers like that. Just seeing her for those brief moments made me want to see Australia in spite of all I've heard.

Mickey Rourke had one of the best outfits. So many men can't seem to figure out how to do black tie interestingly.

There's a billion other things to say but it's been a long day. Great swanking, LSPE and Tom! :D


ETA - watching the Oscars in HD means wrinkles, bad makeup, and bad surgery show up even more hideously.

I only watched the last 3 awards and liked the format they used. I adore Sophia Loren and I hope I still look that good at 74 (although NM asked if she was Ru Paul).

I saw a total of one winning film - Vicky Christy Barcelona. I only watch any of it for the fashions.

Overall I really liked the new production. In my opinion, the best Oscar production I've ever seen (other than the musical number).

Ben Stiller's bit was hilarious.





I guess there weren't as many Commie, Homo-Loving Sunofaguns as Sean Penn thought.

Oh, and I thought it was the best memorial ever. Beautiful live song, so many touching deaths, the side screens with the alternative images from the dearly departed's body of work. And the camera work only bothered me in that it sometimes moved in too close to see those other screens. Really, the most moving Oscar memorial I have ever seen.

The new format was fantastic. The troupe of past acting winners presenting en masse was inspired, and reached it's zenith with the completely touching Best Actress presentation. This new tack really highlighted the value of the nomination, and downplayed the crapshoot of the win. Loved it.


Similarly innovative was the montage of Best Director noms, intersperced with films that likely provided influence and inspiration.

The medley trio of best nominated song was such an improvement over dragging them out one-by-one throughout the entire show. I liked the clever backstage set for the costumes/make-up/design/cinematography and the cool speaker set for the sound awards.

Speaking of sets - - the crystal curtain prosenium was absotabulary gorgeous, OMG.

Jackman's "thrown-together" opening number was hillarious. Ben Stiller as Joaquin Phoenix, histerical. Steve Martin and Tina Fey, funny as all hell. Who was in that other comedy bit, with the stoner dude and the cinematographer? All the comedy scored big.

The comedic touches in the acceptance speeches were also bizarre and great. The tightrope walker balancing the Oscar on his chin! WTF. The two separate Japanese acceptances were classic comedy gold ... that fantastic audience shot of everyone going "huh?" - and the first guy who finished with "Domo Arrigato, Mr. Roboto" HAHAHAHAHAHA!


Despite that I thought the nominees were bleh, and the Slumdog streak retarded, I found this the best Oscar show literally in decades! Loved it, loved it, loved it.

Oh, Nicole Kidman was the most glorious vision of the evening.


Bleh on Sean Penn for being the only one from Milk not wearing a white knot. But thanks for the gay rights bit in your acceptance speech. Other Milk winner Lance Black also gave a moving speech on The Gay. So not a bad night for "my issue," but it was a drag that few other attendees wore the white knot.


Jerry Lewis looked better than I expected. Sophia Loren, though. OMG, poor woman. Generally not as many fashion faux-pas as in other years, though. Really a high class show.

And a great Oscar party at Le Chez. Thanks everybody. So.Much.Fun.

Oh, I loved his acceptance speech! So glad he won. Except, was it just me, or did he thank everyone breathing -- except Robin Wright? He had a list, for crying out loud.

Seth Rogan and James Franco playing their characters (though Rogan much thinner now) from Pineapple Express.

I stopped watching at 8 o'clock (never did go back to my movie 'til then) and watched The Amazing Race instead because I was generally bored. My feeling watching it was that it must have been pretty compelling in person but made for semi-lame TV. The animation montage was awful but I've already forgotten the other montages (though it is good that they managed to get Transporter 3 and Death Race into the Oscar telecast).

The aspect I didn't like was the redundancy of describing each of the nominees: "Sound editing is important whether it is creating a space robot or mimicking large caliber gunfire while a man ages backwards. And the nominees are Wall-E and Benjamin Button." For some reason I found that annoying.

The responses I'm reading elsewhere are showing a strong love it/hate it split. My mood may have been helped if it were for the fact that most of the time the worst or second-worst movie (Slumdog or Button) was winning.

Well, there was the guy who won for Best Makeup who apparently had a phone book in his pocket, looked like he had just won a rat turd and decided to audition for the remake of the FedEx world's fastest talking man commercial.

Two other things

I was concerned a little early when there was a miscue on the curtain right at the opening. But that appeared to be the only problem. EXCEPT for...

Did anyone else catch the wardrobe malfunction during the best song performance? After the trilogy of songs, the dancers remained on stage in position (huffing and puffing). One of the dancers who was RIGHT behind whoever was on camera (on the left of the screen) had a very obvious slip of the outfit. Had she not been wearing a flesh colored under-garment, we would have had another Janet Jackson moment. She realized it, but remained professional and did not attempt to correct it until the camera was off her.

Okay, I loved it. The show was something it's not been in eons, fun. While the actual wins were not terribly dramatic (until Sean Penn), I enjoyed the new format of having former winners present. It was cool. I do not think Sophia Loren's Valentino gown would win awards, I hope to heaven I look pretty good for age 74. She's still a class act.

Some of the gowns were horrible. I thought Meryl Streep looked incredible. And I loved whatever that vintage piece Amy Adams had around her throat. Penelope Cruz was in a 60 year old vintage gown, and it (and she) were stunning. Nicole Kidman was lovely, as was Kate Winslet

I want a Swarovski crystal curtain for the doorway in between the dining room and living room.

Oh, and in the last two ceremonies only one out of eight acting awards has gone to an American.

Sean Penn stands alone.

The other seven are Daniel Day-Lewis, Marie Cotillard, Javier Bardem, Tilda Swinton, Kate Winslet, Heath Ledger, and Penelope Cruz.

I hope that Obama got a "Award American" provision into that stimulus bill.


Actually, thanks to the Slumdog run of the 24 awards, at least 16 went to furreners (and based on names likely a couple others but IDMB doesn't have their birthplaces) .

I agree with Alex about the annoying redundency in the presentation of many tech and art direction awards. It was stupid, but didn't bother me all that much. Especially in light of all the other drastic improvements.


Really, there have been so many years where they've claimed to reinvent the show because it was sucking so badly ... and this is the first time such an effort has ever actually been an improvement.

I really, REALLY liked the new format. I loved the bit with the very personal tributes to each of the nominees.

I do wish they'd at least list the other winners before commercial breaks or something.

Very happy for the Milk wins. Didn't see a shred off footage yet. Love Dustin and Sean's speeches. Kudos to them!

It starts in a little less than 30 minutes !! YAY.

You all suck.

Turning my Oscar protest thread into a fan-boy one.

I liked what I thought was a clubbier feel to the show, and I thought Hugh Jackman came off well, although I always feel there is something slight and lacking in gravitas about him.

I saw very few of the nominated movies this year, and I didn't think that the ponderous tributes by the acting presenters did anything to make me want to see them. I did, however, like Michael Douglas's comment that Frank Langella's performance made you forget all other Nixons--when Anthony Hopkins is standing right there on stage.

And I'm sorry: The memorial was terrible.

Some of my thoughts from the night:

I loved the Ben Stiller bit. I thought it was cool that they included the scenes from Milk in the "romantic couples" montage. Kate Winslet looked fabulous! I wish I could make my hair do that.

That was the one thing that Susan and I disagreed on. I loved Kate's hair with the classic look, but she thought it looked too "glued."

Get your own damned thread.

Oh wait...

I watched the three-minute Oscar summary video today, and I found even that to be tiresome and eye-roll inspiring, so I'm glad I spent last night curled up with a cat and a book.

The cat - Tsunami
The book - Dead Until Dark, the first of the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris. These are the basis for the HBO True Blood series, which I have not yet seen, but the book was hella fun!

Do Not, REPEAT, DO NOT watch the fim montage introducing the Best Director category.

Just trust me. Look away.

Yeah Baby! One of my latest favorite book series. MUCH better then watching the stupid tv show. I've read them all and really enjoyed them. After that series I highly recommend you check out the Black Dagger Brotherhood novels.

Was it the song? Or did you just not have the right crop of dead people to your liking?

For me, it was the nausea inducing camera movements. Just focus on the screen and stay still, damn it!

Nope, sorry. The first book I've ever read that was far worse than the film or television series based on it.


(There's nothing wrong with the book ... but since it's told first person by the protagonist, the other interesting story and character threads invented by the tv series are simply missing. Sorry ... no Jason Stackhouse adventures with V .... NOT AS GOOD by definition!! Hahaha!)


Sorry, we digress. Oh, um, ok vampires back to Oscars ... well, most people at the Chez party didn't recognize the cute actor from the vampire movie Twilight until we mentioned he was also Cedric Diggory from the HarryPotterverse. ;)

The song and singing of it. The view that this simple moment needed to be punched up with techno crap that made half the names unreadable from a distance. Too much dead Paul Newman.

Didn't notice and shaky camera movements, but my only complaint with the memorial was, with all of the ancillary screens showing cool stuff, they spent way too much time on a tight shot of the main screen so we couldn't see the smaller screens. But that's the fault of the director of the TV broadcast, not the people who produced the memorial.

And, GC, I will second iSm's suggestion to skip that montage. It WILL piss you off.

And I forget who it was directed at, but "Suck it _____" was an awesome moment.

Bill Maher is such a douche. According to LSPE, he was whining earlier in the day about his film not being nominated, then he get up there and whines some more. Get over yourself. At least Jack Black's was funny.

Until recently, Sophia Loren had been aging beautifully. Now she's yet another colligen injected, plastic surgeried wreck. I will never ever be able to fathom how people think that walking around with a face that's obviously been stretched and injected (and hit with a coat of lava orange from their local auto body shop for good measure) "hides" their age in any way shape or form. If anything, it's just a big, obvious neon sign that says, "Wow, they must have aged HORRIBLY to have wanted to have that done do them."

Sorry - the stupid TV show I was referring to was the Oscars and not the True Blood series. For the books vs series - I like them both.

Kate Winslet, and she was brilliant. Plus, I'm envious (as I always am) of people who can really whistle. Her dad A+!

Didn't Spielberg's DP also tell someone in the audience to suck it when Seth Rogan said he was the first DP to present an award? That was the extent of his talking on stage.

I did like Rogan cracking up when Franco mangled the Live Action Short winner's name.

No, not that one. I'm talking about the sound guy who was in the Pineapple Express bit.

The Pineapple Express bit was the best. When James Franco saw himself kissing Sean Penn on TV.... I got me the hy-sterics!

The line was "suck that, Anthony Dod Mantle." Mantle is Slumdog Millionaire's cinematographer.

Personally, I really enjoyed the show. I admit that the company with whom I watched the show was stellar and that probably shaded my opinion, but the highs of the show sure outweighed the lows in a big way.

Notwithstanding my overall appreciation, my three quibbles:
- The memorial bit didn't work as well because it was the one piece that was designed primarily for the live audience. I don't think the song was the problem, it was the multiple screens. I'll bet that a broadcast-specific feed with the multiple pictures would have worked better, especially for the HD audience.
- The musical number in the middle was a little awkward (sorry, Baz) and the fact that it took up so much time versus the relatively short medley of the nominated songs.
- The surprising contrast between the touching introductions given by the presenters of the Actress awards and the mostly stiff and awkward ones given by/for the Actors. I got chills when Michael Douglas, standing on stage with Anthony Hopkins, said that Langella's portrayal of Nixon made you forget all the ones that came before. Ouch.

But in all, what a great show. Jackman's opening number, the Man on Wire Oscar balancing act, Penn's and Winslet's acceptance speeches... there were so many good things to say about the show.

One moment that should have been: when Jackman said that "musicals are back," Heather turned to me and said "A.R. Rahman should get up and say, 'We have a word for musicals in India - we call them movies.'"

Agreed. On the surface, I liked the nod to the classic Top Hat and Tails award show musical form, but they crammed way too much into that medley, left my head spinning a bit.

It was mentioned before, but I loved the Tina Fey, Steve Martin bit. My favorite moment was as Steve was about to deliver his oft-used joking spotlight stealing bit where he repeats the "And I'm Steve Martin". But he couldn't because people were too busy giving Fey a HUGE ovation. Heehee, the irony.

Two more little happy points:

Jennifer Aniston pronouncing Wall-EEEEEE correctly when announcing the Animated Feature winner.

Kate Winslet inadvertenly brit-accenting "FV<K YOU, ACADEMY" Hahahahahaha!



Oh, and Sean made up for his lame white knot faux-pas with his acceptance speech ... but screenplay winner Dustin Lance Black's acceptance was really much more moving and poinant on the subject.


Obviously, I'm very happy with both wins. Both were the odds-on favorites in their categories due to their obvious excellence quite apart from the subject matter near and dear to me. But their wins certainly made for a good night on the Gay Rights front. Yay!:)

Anyone care to explain to me the bizarre display of multiculturalism in the nominated original song melody? Tiko drums during the Slum Dogs songs? African drums during the Wall-E song? What's the connection that I'm missing?


I'm still fuming over the shorts.

For the live action, I should have stuck with my gut. At the screening, ocne the live action program was over, as soon as the lights came on, I made the comment, "Well, we all know the holocaust one is going to win it." I let the people with me talk me out of that prediction, that with 2 selections clearly superior to Toyland, the Academy wouldn't be so predictable as to just pick the holocaust one. hah.

I know the show producers were looking specifically for multi-cultural percussionists. A call went out in the art community a few weeks ago asking SPECIFICALLY for "multi-cultural percussionists for the Academy Awards Ceremony".

Well, they got them. I just don't understand using them in that context.

Yeah, I was a bit confused (and amused) by the request.

I thought the Oscars were a huge hit. So many moments that made me laugh - although Mr. Roboto might have been my favorite. Or Tina Fey's "that we made up" line that was nearly swallowed by the applause. The opener was great. I love that they focused on what the host does well and took out the awkward commentary bits through the rest of the show. After all, lately no matter what funny guy or gal they usually recruit to host ends up so toned down that it's pretty pointless.

As for the memorial number - today's paper had an interesting take on the song, noting that it made less obvious the differing applause levels for the various stars. Although I do feel that in a year where so many greats (as usual) were lost, it wasn't right to noticeably give considerably more time to one particular loss.

And, of course, the company was superb. What a treat after six weeks of hotels and airports! The company of friends made the night a true success.

Thanks for reminding me of that wonderful moment. Made me all misty-eyed when it happened. I can be such a sap.

Found this rather funny review of the show:

http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2009/0...rs-review.html

Thanks Heidi and Tom for hosting! It was great. Best Show/Party ever.

Oh yes, and kudos to H&T for the genius menu for the evening. And Sorshah for yet another brilliant cake (and I don't want to hear any, "Oh, but it was so rushed" nonsense from you, it was fabulous).

Okay, at least I can see everyone in the In Memoriam, thanks youtube.

:( They skipped Anita Page, one of the last silent film stars.*



*Diana Serra Kerry is still here, though I've never seen a Baby Peggy film

Agreed. Bill Maher is a total douche. He can't help himself being a douche. And it's long since it stopped being funny. It wasn't even just whining about his fecking un-nominated douche-fest of a film (granted I haven't seen it, but if it's Bill Maher and he believes in it, it's a douche-fest), he couldn't help taking an open crack at religion while he was at it. I didn't even know about prior whining, and I still thought it was pretty douche-y.

The article reminded me of a Stupid Red Carpet Moment

Self-answering questions are amusing

That made me cry. Father-daughter moments always get to me.

Yay for the pointless religion swipes!

But I find odd the assumption that his comments were unscripted. Pretty much everything said by someone not holding an Oscar in their hands is pre-written. His comments weren't funny (or insightful) but that may not be entirely his fault.

Meanwhile, Tina Fey's swipe at religion was among the funniest and most brilliant things of the entire show ... so it all depends on how it's done.


I don't know if she wrote her's either. And it was all but lost in applause already in progress. But it was f'in brilliant.

I wouldn't say it was lost in the applause - the crowd's reaction was for the joke, which didn't need the punchline. We all knew what they were talking about, though her actually saying that made it more of a "oh no she didn't" moment. Those two together are like dynamite, ka-pow!

YAY! We're not the only ones who heard that.... even after playing it back a few times. LOL!! :snap:

LOL, I thought by the original title that this thread was really about NOT watching the Academy Awards Show. Whoops! Well, I didn't. Watch the show. I didn't even know who was nominated (except for one friend in make-up, who lost to B. Button :rolleyes: ). We were out of town, and got back hoping to have dinner at a local place...and when we arrived, fully 3 hours before closing, they were packing it in due to "the Oscars" and the entire city being basically holed up in front of the TV. So, we went home and I made nachos. We went on our balcony and watched searchlights in the sky over Hollywood. We felt sad for our friend (I'd googled the results and saw his loss). That is what we did instead of watching. :)

When did she say that? I missed it. I'm assuming it was bleeped.

She didn't. She said "Thank you", but with the British "th" that sounds like "f". It was at the very end of her speech, she was turning from the microphone, so the full enunciation of "thank" got a little lost and it ended up sounding like "f*ck you".

They seem to have skipped a lot of people this year, though I don't know if this year was unusual in that regard.

Not appearing in the montage:
Patrick McGoohan
Estelle Getty
Earytha Kitt
Harvey Korman
George Carlin
Don LaFontaine
Mel Ferrer
Edie Adams
Ann Savage
Robert Prosky
Arthur C. Clarke
William Gibson

Wouldn't that be because he's not yet dead?

I assume he meant this William Gibson

Well then don't list him right next to Clarke. :p

They're both writers. The others are actors. I stand by my list order.

Arthur C. Clarke, that seems like a big omission to me.

The rest are more linked to things other than movies, I think. Harvey Korman is a bit borderline.

I would agree, except that they included in the montage people like Isaac Hayes and Maila Nurmi who are more linked to other media, as well as other borderline cases.

I'm not overly worked up about this, but I'm curious as to what the decision-making process was. I have heard in the past that they either give exclusive or preferential place in the montage to Academy members, so maybe that was it.

If they included Isaac Hayes, I missed it. More proof that the memorial sucked.

Well, Issac Hayes was an Academy Award winner for the song Shaft (if I am not mistaken), so his inclusion was appropriate.

Korman, Carlin, and Vampira I would agree are more borderline. The now dead film critic who got the nod made me laugh. I'm sure if Pauline Kael had been listed in the farewell nod, the audience would have risen up and cheered she was dead. ;)

Or proof of your lack of observation skills. Because he was in there, as clearly as anybody else was.

Just curious, Your Gibson's Wiki page did not mention him ever winning an Academy Award. Is that a criteria for being mentioned in the memorial or is it anyone the Academy deems noteworthy?

I may not see many movies, but I see dead people.

One of my great Oscar regrets was missing the 2004 memorial while in the bathroom. That would have included Hepburn, Peck, Hope, Bronson and many others.

Of course, if Isaac Hayes was in there as clearly as Cyd Charisse, I might have missed him.

The memorial sucked.

Assuming the list of people in the memorium I found is correct, a lot of spaces to appear to go to people who were nominated or won Academy Awards in the prominent categories:

Abby Mann - 1 win, 1 more nomination
Anthony Minghella - 1 win, 3 more nominations
Charles Joffe - 1 win
Charlton Heston - 1 win
Claude Berri - 1 win, 1 more nomination
David Watkin - 1 win
Isaac Hayes - 1 win, 1 more nomination
James Whitmore - 2 nominations
John Michael Hayes - 2 nominations
Jules Dassin - 2 nominations
Kon Ichikawa - 1 indirect nomination (he direct The Burmese Harp, best foreign language nominee); also a major post-war Japanese director.
Leonard Rosenman - 2 wins, 2 more nominations
Paul Newman - 1 win, 9 more nominations
Paul Scofield - 1 win, 1 more nomination
Richard Widmark - 1 nomination
Robert Mulligan - 1 nomination
Roy Scheider - 2 nominations
Stan Winston - 2 wins, 6 more nominations
Sydney Pollack - 2 wins, 5 more nominations

So that leaves 9 people mentioned who I don't think were ever nominated:

Charles Schneer - Major B movie producer
Evelyn Keyes - Prominent second female lead in the '40s/'50s.
Joseph Caracciolo - Seems to have done art design and producing. IMDb doesn't even know he's dead yet. No wiki page.
Maila Nurmi - Better known as Vampira
Manny Farber - Prominent film critic
Ned Tanen - Former major studio head
Ricardo Montalban - Actor
Robert DoQui - Actor
Warren Cowan - Legendary publicist.

So it looks to me like they probably have some rule about which former nominee/winners are automatically included. Then they know they have X slots available for all of the other people who died that year and probably try to spread the love around a bit through industry.

And then hunker down for the inevitable barrage of "why didn't my husband get in!" complaints (I know this is real, some book on the Oscars I've read mentioned that many attempts have been made by producers to remove the segment so they wouldn't have to deal with the hurt feelings afterward).

Hmm...Well if Cyd Charisse was in there then the list I found wasn't complete.

Unfortunately the In Memorium page at Oscars.org is not a representation of who actually made it into the video. But looking at that list it does suggest that nearly everbody mentioned was a member of one branch of the Academy or another.

What a year!

From what I've seen elsewhere, this was shown on TCM, not the Oscars.

I thought it was this William Gibson

Both Cyd Charisse and Van Johnson were in the memorial.

And every time Strangler Lewis posts the Memorial Sucked, I feel compelled to post it was the Best Memorial Ever.

We thought the whole thing was OK.

I liked Anne Hathaway getting in on the opening number.

I liked the memorial. If I were his family I would have been unable to read the autocue.

I liked the way they presented the nominees.

Now we need to go back to the Kodak Theatre and pose on the steps again. :D

The memorial was the worst thing that was ever planned to happen at the Oscars. Indeed, from a taste standpoint, it was the worst thing ever done on network television.

Ok, the list I had found didn't include the first ten people in the montage. And it does appear that is where they mostly clumped the non-Oscar people). The complete list in order:

Cyd Charisse - Actress (no nominations)
Bernie Mac - Actor (no nominations)
Bud Stone - Executive (no nominations)
Ollie Johnston - Animator (no nominations)
Van Johnson - Actor (no nominations)
J. Paul Huntsman - Sound editor (no nominations)
Michael Crichton - Writer/Producer (a technical achievement win)
Nina Foch - Actress (1 nomination)
Pat Hingle - Actor (no nominations)
Harold Pinter - Writer (2 nominations)
Charles H. Joffe - Producer
Kon Ichikawa - Japanese Director
Abby Mann - Writer
Roy Scheider - Actor
David Watkin - DP
Robert Mulligan - Director
Evelyn Keyes - Actress
Richard Widmark - Actor
Claude Berri - Director
Maila Nurmi - Actress
Isaac Hayes - Musician
Leonard Rosenman - Composer
Ricardo Montalban - Actor
Manny Farber - Film Critic
Robert DoQui - Actor
Jules Dassin - Director
Paul Scofield - Actor
John Michael Hayes - Writer
Warren Cowan - Publicist
Joseph M. Caracciolo - Producer
Stan Winston - Special Effects
Ned Tanen - Executive/Producer
James Whitmore - Actor
Charlton Heston - Actor
Anthony Minghella - Director/Producer
Sydney Pollack - Director/Producer/Actor
Paul Newman - Actor

I like the way a technical achievement win ranks below nominations for an actress and writer.