The Oscars

A few random thoughts about the Oscars last night:

• TiVo+Oscars=Genius: Seriously, I don't think I'll ever watch again without the ability to skip the boring stuff.

• New format: In general, I liked it. The whole program seemed snappier and more to the point. The idea of going through the awards in the Pre-Production, Production, and Post-Production categories worked pretty well for me.

• The actors/actresses giving laudatory blurbs about the actor/actress nominees: Touching at best, awkward at worst, in general worked well except for being a little bit long. The actors certainly seemed to appreciate it, although lord knows they don't need their egos stroked any more.

• Funniest parts: Steve Martin/Tina Fey. The cinematographer telling someone to suck it (or something similar) and then apologizing immediately.

• Hugh Jackman: At first I was like, "why?" But he ended up being pretty good and generally did what the host should do- stay out of the way. He was funnier then I expected him to be, and his opening number was good. If you're not going to have a John Stewart or a Letterman do the hosting, someone like Jackman is fine.

• Hotness: Beyonce, Angelina Jolie, Frieda Pinto (woman from Slumdog Millionaire), and (surprisingly, for me) Natalie Portman.

• Notness: Goldie Hawn, Jack Black, Tilda Swinton, Mickey Rourke, Kate Winslett (I know everyone else loves her)

• Slumdog Millionaire: Good. Glad it won. I haven't seen all of the movies, but Slumdog was easily my favorite of the ones I have seen.

• Benjamin Button: Not particularly good. In fact, pretty mediocre. Glad it didn't win much.

• Milk/Sean Penn: Great movie. Excellent performance- he really nailed Harvey's characteristics. Oops, didn't thank the wife and kids...

• WallE/Pixar: Won the well deserved Animation Oscar. I touched the Oscar today at Pixar. Awesome. We lost the Post categories which is unfortunate but predictable- few people understand how much work/talent it takes to create an entire soundtrack (and in this case an entire cast of characters) from scratch.