The 81st Annual Academy Awards were last night. I sort of watched it, but it started earlier than I thought and I was working most of time so I’m sure I missed a bunch. I did, however, catch the camera cutting to Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie while Jennifer Aniston and Jack Black were presenting on stage. Not too sure the point of that, other than to fuel the gossip fires. Slumdog Millionaire was the big winner of the night; which came... 

The 80th Annual Academy Awards were last night on ABC. I took some notes… *Regis Philbin was the red carpet host. An alright choice I guess. *George Clooney was the first celebrity to talk with Regis. George’s girlfriend Sarah was a simple beautiful. *Helen Mirren was gorgeous as usual; she really knows how to dress her body. *Hilary Swank is not pretty – at least not from the neck up. She looks like a horse. Yeah! I said it! *Jack... 

It seems incredible in these days of ghoulish dissection of who wears what to the Oscars, to think that in 1929, the year of the first Academy Awards ceremony, the actress award winner, Janet Gaynor, wore a tiny off-the rack dress with a Peter Pan collar that she probably picked up from a children’s store. In 1937, the Austrian ingenue Luise Rainer accepted her best actress award in a nightgown; and in 1958, Joanne Woodward accepted... 

In the Awards family, the Oscars are the stuffy aunt whose opinion the family respects and around whom the family is on their best behavior. Everyone wears their best (or so they think) and they are polite and smile and thank everyone under the sun and lose with grace. Last night was not really any different. Ellen DeGeneres hosted for her first time, and did a swell job. I especially liked her red velvet suit and her “Oscar Carrier”... 

- Leonardo DeCaprio, Best Actor for Blood Diamond “I’m honored to receive this nomination from the Academy – especially in a year full of such worthy nominees. … I am also thrilled for Djimon [Hounsou], Mark [Wahlberg] and Marty [Scorsese] who are all so deserving of this recognition.” – Peter O’Toole, Best Actor for Venus “If you fail the first time, try try try try try try try again.” (Peter has been nominated... 

The nominations are in. Here is a short list of the “big ones”. Noticeably absent from Best Picture is Dreamgirls, which many “in the know” thought would be nominated for sure. Looks like they’re not as “in” as they thought. Best Picture: -Babel -Letters From Iwo Jima -Little Miss Sunshine -The Departed -The Queen Best Actor: -Leonardo DeCaprio for Blood Diamond -Ryan Gosling for Half Nelson -Peter O’Toole...