• 4 French guys with stuffed penguins are almost as endearing as the
original.

 • Jon Stewart started slowly, with lukewarmish jokes mocking
Hollywood's liberalism. He got better as the night wore on, and was at
his best in the seemingly spontaneous bits.

 • I found myself wondering if he and his crew were responsible for the
fake campaign commercials, in which various nominees badmouth the
competition ("Judi Dench is no dame."), or whether they were put on by
AMPAS directly. They had Hollywood production values but a Daily Show
sensibility. Stewart seems like the kind of guy who's willing to share
the limelight, and he may well have preferred doing these pre-shot bits
to cracking jokes live with his face on screen.

 • Man, those montages of past movies were great! Especially the final
shot in the "epic" montage, showing Scarlett O'Hara gazing out over
Tara. They served exactly the purpose they were intended to: reminding
us all of just how terrific movies are as an art form and a part of our
culture.

 • Speaking of reminding, did you get the message "Go to the theaters
to see the movies! Don't just rent the DVDs (or, worse, pirate them)."?
While I certainly agree with the sentiment, it was a drum beaten so
often it started to sound like desperation.

 • When Crash 1st came out last April or May — way earlier than studios
usually release Oscar-caliber films, figuring that the voters'
attention span isn't very long — I pegged it at the time as the film to
beat for Best Picture. So did Roger Ebert. We're both smiling today. So
is Lion's Gate.

 • And Crash succeeded without any main star. It was an ensemble
performance. Matt Dillon was up for Best Supporting Actor, but I don't
think there's a soul on the planet who could say who he was supporting.
(Terrence Howard was also a nominee, for Best Actor, but for a
different film, Hustle and Flow.)

 • Speaking of Hustle and Flow, whose theme music won for Best Original
Song, have you ever heard a more pathetic collection of unmemorable
tunes than this year's nominees? These are the heirs to The Sound of
Music? Gimme a break! The Academy should do what the Science Fiction
Achievement Awards (the Hugos) do, and permit its members to vote for
"No Award".

 • Speaking of "hustle", did anyone, anywhere (including non-English
speakers watching without translation) miss the fact that people had
only a limited time to speak? Isn't this the sort of technical detail
that's supposed to be handled behind the scenes, out of sight of the
audience? Most of the accepters were a little flustered by it. Only
George Clooney, his usual suave self, figured out how to handle it
while seeming (and probably actually being) totally relaxed and
unhurried. He said he was proud to be part of an institution (the
Academy) that was in the forefront, rather than the rear guard, of
social progress.

 • My favorite acceptance speech was the heartfelt one from Best
Actress Reese Witherspoon, a Nashville gal who was told in her youth by
an acting coach that she should never, never attempt to sing in public.
So imagine how she must have felt when she was told "Oh, you can do it.
And by the way, you'll get to do it in for the 1st time in front of
millions of people while trying to sound like country music legend June
Carter Cash. Don't let the pressure get to you.". But her luminous
portrayal of the late and deservedly beloved June Carter Cash in Walk
the Line, the terrific singing job she did in the movie (even compared
to the absolutely astounding performance turned in by her co-star,
Joaquin Phoenix), and her obviously sincere appreciation and admiration
for the original June Carter Cash made this one of the most satisfying
moments of the night.

 • I felt bad for Lauren Bacall, who was an excellent choice to
introduce the film-noir montage, but who, at 81, was having trouble
reading the teleprompter, which was evidently somewhere in the next
county.

 • Not needing a teleprompter were Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep, whose
overlapping-dialog introduction of Lifetime Oscar Winner Robert Altman
was just perfect.

 • I appreciated the very brief description, just preceding the awards
in some of the technical categories, of what exactly things like sound
editing, costume design, and art direction consist of. And then they
showed us. The dissolves from the artists' sketches into the
corresponding live scenes from the various movies was striking and
enhanced my appreciation for how hard it is to pull off these things.

 • And, speaking of esthetics, I haven't seen Memoirs of a Geisha, but
judging from the type of awards it pulled in, it must be one of the
most beautiful creations on the face of the planet, even if you were to
subtract Zhang Ziyi (not that I'd ever suggest such a sacrilege).

 • Biggest performer at the box office in 2005? Star Wars Episode 3:
Revenge of the Sith. After last night, George Lucas must be thinking
"revenge of the loot", since it's about his only consolation. He
obviously loves movies and is totally sincere about wanting to be in
the forefront of technological innovation for them, but he seems to
have lost sight of the fact cited by someone who actually won an award
(I forget exactly who) that a good movie is first, last, and always
about good storytelling.

 • All the actors, directors, and special-effects guys appreciate Andy
Serkis. When will the Academy?

 • Damn, I like movies!