Oscar Wrap-Up

What an exciting night last night was! I've only been watching the Oscar telecast for a couple of years (I think 2003 was the first), but this was by far the best. It was entertaining to the extreme and many deserving winners (and some undeserving...more about that later). I only got 12 out of the 24 categories correct, but I couldn't be happier. Here are some of the highlights and lowlights of the night:

Highlights:

1. Martin Scorsese FINALLY winning his long deserved Best Director Oscar. What a triumphant and emotional moment. I couldn't be happier for the man.

2. Ellen DeGeneres. I love Ellen and she was absolutely hilarious. My favorite moment is when she asked Steven Spielberg to take a picture of her and Clint Eastwood for her MySpace...and then telling him to retake it when it didn't turn out the way Ellen wanted! Priceless.

3. Jennifer Hudson winning her Oscar. I was scared for a second that Abigail might steal it away from her but Miss Hudson prevailed. Yay for her!

4. The songs from Dreamgirls were beautifully staged and made me totally happy. Plus, seeing Beyonce and J. Hud duet on both "Listen" and "Love You I Do" was golden.

5. The Departed winning Best Picture over Babel. Finally, after the catastrophe that was last year, Oscar picks the right film for their top award.

6. I'm hearing a lot of bad buzz about the acrobats, but I thought they were impressive. Those Happy Feet penguins was a definite "Whoa" moment.

7. Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt presenting Best Costumes and that reaction shot of Meryl Streep in the audience....Let's just say there's a reason Meryl Streep is American royalty.

Lowlights:

1. Alan Arkin winning Best Supporting Actor over Eddie Murphy. Arkin was good and everything in Little Miss Sunshine, but he wasn't even the best supporting actor in the film (Steve Carell was tons better). All I have to say is that Eddie Murphy got robbed of his deserved trophy.

2. Babel winning Best Score. Since when does random guitar plucking count as an Oscar-winning score? Gustavo Santaolalla had already won last year for the treacly Brokeback score (I think what won it for him was that beautiful couple of lines of music that plays throughout and right at the end...you would know it if you heard it) and didn't need another for the non-existent Babel score.

3. "Listen" losing Best Song. What the fuck? Does Oscar not know an amazing song when it hears it anymore? "I Need to Wake Up" is a decent message song about global warming and all, but "Listen" is the most beautiful showstopping ballad I've heard in a long time.

A fantastic ceremony that I hope can be replicated in future years (in other words, bring Ellen back again!) Now it's time to start obsessing about next year's Oscars!