Yet Another Oscar Montage

I blame myself of course. Every year I mess up on my Oscar picks by choosing what I want to win (this year it was Paradise Now over Tsotsi) or not going with my gut (choosing Brokeback Mountain over Crash. I even blogged on Saturday that I was going to pick Crash. Oh why don’t I listen to me?)

That being said, I did quite well and won my Oscar pool — edging out my pop culture rival and my wife who is always a dark horse — getting 18 of 24 categories correct. Hey, 75% is not too shabby, it’s how I got through school.

But enough of my self-congratulation — that’s Hollywood’s job. It was actually a good show, as award shows go. My greatest worry was that Jon Stewart would tank but, bless him, he was the best part of the night. He skewered left and right, Russell Crowe and did what he could to puncture some of the evening’s pomposity. There really wasn’t a chance he was going to go Crossfire on the broadcast, so I’m happy with what we got. Now hope for a jump in ratings for the Daily Show and don’t take the gig again.

There really wasn’t much else to be shocked or surprised about. Touchy-feely E! host Issac Mizrahi kept his hands too himself, and nobody but Jack Nicholson appeared all that drunk. We had to wonder how pissed off Matt Dillon was being sat behind Charlize Theron’s humongous bow and there was a quick audience shot of Andy Rooney who now looks like Darth Vader when he isn’t wearing his helmet. Shudder.

And why does the Academy feel the need to rush people off the stage in 30 to 60 seconds on likely the biggest night of the lives, but has plenty of time for montages, clip tributes and full song performances/interpretive dances?

For a longer, snarkier, blow-by-blow recap of the night, check out What Would Tyler Durden Do and Defamer. It’s why they get the big numbers.