The Oscars

Watching a videotape copy of the Oscars. There's no other way to watch it. My comments are going to a lame rehashing of things I read and things I heard that in watching the show, I happened to agree with...but I'll try to be original, as best I can:

1. Lily Tomlin and Meryl Streep - now those are woman - proud, funny, smart. Altman deserved such an introduction.

2. A lot of the actors nominated for best and supporting are real ACTORS, as in, if they were born 150 years ago, pre-cinema, they'd still be actors - Phillip Hoffman, David Stratheim, Paul Giamatti, William Hurt, Terrence Howard, and Heath Ledger (I include him b/c I think his performance in Brokeback is THAT good - he's not like C. Theron, who just uglies herself up and expects to be respectable). I can't say the same about any of the actresses, maybe Frances McDormand.

3. That being said, there actors and there are STARS. The biggest male star - George Cloony. Can't deny it, the guy oozes charisma. The Oscars felt like his house, didn't it? The biggest female star - Ziyi Zhang. She's bigger than the rest.

4. Hip hop sounds better on CD than live.

5. Ethan Hawke & Ed Norton - idiots.

6. My favorite seating arrangement - Jack Nicholson next to Keira Knightley.

7. Next year there are going to five other movies up there, nominated, no matter what. Like clockwork. Like the eerie march of time. Like specially produced goods.