> These Oscars *bit*. Lamest Oscar show in years.

Whoa, whoa, are you kidding? Did we see the same show? BEST OSCARS IN YEARS. I think you're just upset you didn't dominate the guessing game this year... :P

> 1. He cut out clips of the acting nominees, and in their place used montages of "who's won in this category in the past". Unforgivable.

Okay, those montages SUCKED. They either needed to not include everybody or be much longer. It was like half-a-second per clip. Oy. Did Michael Bay or Darren Arronofsky cut them? I dug the idea -- paying homage to the past winners, 75 years and all. But just HORRENDOUS execution. I agree with you there.

Cutting the clips from movies, though.... hrm. Originally I was upset about this, but thinking back -- what's the point, really? Everyone there's seen the movies (hopefully) so why show them again? Hrm. I kind of enjoy the clips, but I really don't think it's blasphemous to remove them. Maybe the time could be better used for something else. I agree with you about all the retrospective montages, though. So poorly done they shouldn't have been done at all.

> 3. The pointless People Talk About Their Oscars montage -- what the heck was THAT about?

EXCEPT this one. It was a retrospective of what it's like to get an Oscar. I thought it was very interesting. Robin Williams was actually funny for the first time in fifty years. Some good stuff there.

> I also think it was a mistake to do the "introduce past winners" thing again -- it's only been 5 years since they did it last time. Wait a bit longer between occurrences.

Yeah, definitely. And it's just so time-consuming.

> And some random thoughts:
>
> * Steve is a good host, but he wasn't nearly as good as the last time he hosted. His monologue was so lame that I thought Bruce Vilanch probably wrote it. Still, bring him back next year.

I can't disagree more about the monologue. There's no accounting for taste.

> * Streisand handing the statuette to Eminem would have been SUCH a photo op. Oh well. (By the way, I hate that song, but at least it isn't "Cleaning Out My Closet".) And since Eminem couldn't show up, why not have someone else perform his song? I'm thinking Celine Dion must have been available: "Loooooose ... your-SEEEELLLLLLF... in the MYOO-oooh-OOOH-siiiiic...."

I think an Eminem-Streisand duet would be the best thing since the (rather underwhelming) Eminem-Elton John duet at the Grammies.

> * That Mickey Mouse thing was lame. Not even voiced well. Ugh.

Oh, no kidding. That was the lowlight of the night to me. Ack.

Stephen