Thoughts on the Oscars

Absolutely no surprises, which for me made it rather dull. If I'd entered an Oscar prediction contest, I would have gotten every question right.

Hugh Jackman made a charming host, but that "The Musical Is Back" Production number was awful. Maybe if they'd left that out, the second half wouldn't have felt so rushed. Those presenters acted like they had to go pee as soon as they read off the names and announced the winners.

I doubt that Jennifer Anniston really could have seen Brad and Angelina sitting in the front row under those bright lights of the stage, but it did seem like she was avoiding looking to her right, where they were sitting. But the camerapeople had no problem with cutting to close-ups of Brad's face, did they? Three times during her presentation.

Is it me, or does Steve Martin never seem to age?

I liked the idea of having five past acting winners salute the five nominees. They all came off looking like winners in a time when the expression, "It's honor enough to be nominated," has become cliché.

Those kids from Slumdog Millionaire were adorable, but they must have been bored stiff, sitting through a show that ran longer than three hours. I'll bet they'd rather have been at Disneyland.

I hope that Freida Pinto, Slumdog's leading lady, has a mainstream career. What a beautifiul young lady.

Meryl Streep, who will be 60 years old this year, looks fabulous. So does Eva Marie Saint, who is over 80.

No one looked really bad, fashion-wise, aside from Mickey Rourke (which I'm surprised no one) other than Sophia Loren. That dress was awful. She's always been a big woman, both in height and in figure, and that poufy dress with its overabundance of material made her look like a runaway fabric rack. What surprised me was that no one mentioned that on the Monday morning shows, other than Barbara Walters, who very gingerly said she was "a little disappointed" in Ms. Loren's choice of such an overpowering dress before hastening to add how good Sophia looks in her senior years. Meanwhile, poor Sarah Jessica Parker was being raked over the coals for that bridal look that made her look like an overage Barbie doll (for a hilarious description of Ms. Parker's ensemble and other amusing comments, visit Donna D's blog). Could it be that Ms. Loren's iconic status shields her from criticism? Such things do happen, and in fields other than movies. I've seen one writer praised by a reviewer who gushed that her book was wonderful, casually mentioning that the author will ask readers to suspend belief and assuring that this was fine, then the very same reviewer blasting another writer's novel for being "unrealistic." Personally, I don't see the difference, and I'm convinced it has to do with the first writer being well known (and possibly personally known to the reviewer) and the second not so much. But I digress.

If anybody knows what Ben Stiller's fake beard was all about, please tell me. I didn't get it.

Where were those camerapeople during the In Memoriam segment? I couldn't see half the people's clips/photos or their names because the camera was pulled so far back. If they could zoom in on Brad Pitt every ten seconds during Jennifer Aniston's presentation, they should have been able to focus on the departed for two minutes.

Finally, I wasn't aware that Whoopi Goldberg had gained so much weight recently. Which brings me to me next blog posting.

You'll have to tune in tomorrow to see what that's about. I've already said enough today.