Mathoms, etc.

Bollywood goes Hollywood! So happy that Slumdog Millionaire won this year's Oscar for Best Picture. During these bleak economic times, we need a little feel-good movie like this.

I thought Hugh Jackman did a terrific job hosting, singing, dancing, cracking jokes and just being his handsome self.
Not a fan of the 5 presenters paying tribute to each nominee in the major acting categories. That just made the show even longer. And it was so Hollywood, so self-indulgent. The nominees would of course disagree. They were all moved to tears by what was being said about them.

Touching speeches by Dustin Lance Black, Kate Winslet (finally an Oscar winner!) and Sean Penn. And we all knew Heath Ledger was going to win, and his family finally came to personally receive the award. At other awards shows, other people have been accepting the award. The Ledger family wasn't going to miss Oscar night, that's for sure. And it was great that Penelope Cruz won. Hugh Jackman told Oprah that when Penelope got offstage, she just melted and cried. Her gown was fabulous.

Some weird moments, like when Jen Aniston was presenting and the camera would cut to Brangelina. Awkward much?! And I love Bill Maher but he probably shouldn't have made those comments about religion. But hey, it's a free country, and what bigger soapbox than Oscar night. Also crazy that The Dark Knight's Chris Nolan wasn't nominated for Best Director, when his movie got all those nominations. Ron Howard could have been left off the list, but Hollywood loves Opie/Richie Cunningham.

Loved the musical numbers, though I'm not too sure about that Baz Luhrmann number. But that's probably because I don't like the High School Musical kids or Beyonce.