It's true -- I had 13 correct picks for this year's Oscar awards. I was surprised Brokeback Mountain didn't have a stronger showing, though I'm glad it won the awards it did, especially Best Director for Ang Lee. It's very rare to split the awards between Best Director and Best Picture, but Crash was also an excellent film and worthy of the award. This makes two in a row for Paul Haggis, who last year scored with Million Dollar Baby. He's definitely going to get some great phone calls tomorrow.
I'm shocked that the "Pimp" song won instead of Dolly Parton or the Crash song, but I guess the Academy has to skew to the younger crowd to keep the ratings going. Another unusual thing was the use of music to underscore all of the acceptance speeches. Rather than interrupting the speakers to play them off, the orchestra played some cheesy lounge music behind the speeches which psychologically kept the pace of the show moving.
Jon Stewart did a serviceable job but some of his jokes didn't quite play with the stuffy Academy crowd, who were being mocked by Stewart half of the time. It's always weird when the Academy chooses an outsider to host the awards ceremony. I guess they enjoy a little abuse with their praise.
My friends and I got thoroughly drunk on champagne thanks to the great drinking game created by my friend Heidi. This year's "Dead Celeb Montage" really put me over the edge. Luckily a delicious steak dinner helped absorb some of the booze. Wolfgang Puck, eat your heart out.
By the way, that's a real Oscar I'm holding in the photo above. The Academy had all 50 of tonight's award statuettes on display at the Hollywood & Highland shopping center next to the Kodak Theater where the ceremony is held. For the first time, they also had one statuette available for the public to hold and you know what? They are surpringly heavy!
Thanks to The Saint for the photo and the excellent dinner.
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