Random Oscar Thoughts

It's not like every part of Hugh Jackman's introductory spiel was spot-on (though moments were genuinely funny), but as much as I love Jon Stewart and Conan O'Brien and David Letterman, it's pretty great to have someone who has talents other than just making fun of everything. If there's a night for a song-and-dance man, Oscars night is it, no?. . . Penelope Cruz's acceptance speech is terrific. I love her even more than I thought I did. Having to choose between her and Marisa Tomei for an award is not right. Not. Right. . . . Tina Fey and Steve Martin. Nothin' wrong with that. I'm enjoying this broadcast so far. They seem to have nailed the slightly retro feel they were going for. . . . The Milk screenwriter is moving, in a good way. Mormon kid who still seems to believe in God, his mom, and equal rights. I'm OK with all of that. . . . A friend who's watching with us: "Give Tina Fey an award just for being Tina Fey, would ya?" . . . The cinematographer from Slumdog Millionaire has hair that looks like mine did when I tried to grow it out once in college. The difference is, I would never, ever, ever -- ever -- show up to the Oscars with that hair. Yeesh.

(Commercial break: That new movie with Robert Downey, Jr. and Jamie Foxx, The Soloist, looks like an early candidate for Worst Major Release of 2009.)

The medley of songs performed by Jackman and Beyonce was a disaster. As such, it came as absolutely no surprise that it was put together by Baz Luhrmann. . . . Hard not to choke up at the Ledgers accepting the award for their son and brother, though someone in the room I'm in says that the family isn't giving any of his money to his baby daughter. If so, that's pretty crummy. . . . Benjamin Button is winning a lot of technical awards. You'd still have to pay me a minimum of $100 to sit through it. . . . Man, Will Smith stocked up on the Soul Glo before showing up. . . . This mixture of John Legend and the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack, to succinctly quote someone in the room, "isn't working." . . . The Indian producer of the Slumdog Millionaire score said "God is great" during his acceptance speech. Bill Maher -- the truly insufferable Bill Maher -- earlier said that "our gods are silly," or something to that effect. I think the two should brawl.

The In Memoriam section is always heartbreaking pleasure. Paul Newman! Paul Newman! And Sydney Pollack and so many others, and Queen Latifah singing in person was a nice touch. . . . (Commercial break: Someone in the room approves of True North's campaign, which features people who run charitable businesses. To quote: "I'm liable to buy those nuts.") . . . Anne Hathaway, who was both a good sport and really impressive in the musical number at the top of the show, seems to be cherishing this introduction by Shirley MacLaine. Nice moment. . . . Halle Berry is smoking. Smo. King. . . . Sophia Loren is creepy. Cree. Py. . . . Kate Winslet is terrific. I can't remember a younger actor more deserving of a career-type award. This is her first Oscar, and I imagine she'll win more. . . . Pretty impressive lineup of former Best Actors here. I miss seeing the clips from movies, but it's cool to have things like Ben Kingsley talking about Mickey Rourke. I hope Rourke wins. . . . He doesn't. Wow. I like Sean Penn, but Rourke was just too good to ignore. That's a shame. Lovely closing note about Rourke by Penn, though.

This mashing of clips from Best Picture nominees with older winners is terrible, reaching its nadir with Milk and Braveheart. . . . Slumdog wins it. I'm not going to say it was as slight and TV-movie-ish as Crash, but it was damn close. The little kids were great, though, as a friend is pointing out, and like her, I'm happy for them.

That's a wrap. The show itself was pretty good this year. Too bad I saw barely any of the movies. Or maybe not too bad.