Oscars recap

What I Loved:

Sean Penn wins!
--I knew it all along. When so many people were jumping on the Mickey train, I stayed with Sean. I was a mess when he took it home: I screamed and through the pillow I was covering my face with across the room and started crying. My fellow party goers were making fun of me, but I didn't care. A hot mess, mind you, but a mess none the less.

Dustin Lance Black's speech
--Best of the night, absolutely. He was so genuine and adorable and wonderful, and of course he made me cry.

Kate Winslet and her dad
--I loved Kate already and it was great to see her win, but her dad was absolutely adorable with that little whistle he gave and his little hat he was wearing. Love him.

The acting presentations
--Such a great concept that really panned out well. I mean that's not to say that I didn't miss the clips, but the speeches that the past winners gave to the nominees were really great. Kudos to Whoopi for being especially hilarious.

Judd Apatow's comedy montage
--Hysterical. The best montage of the night, by far, if only for the 'Doubt' comments.

Queen Latifah!
--Her version of "I'll Be Seeing You" brought yet another tear to my eye. An absolutely beautiful way to accompany the In Memorium segment.

Hugh
--He was underused, but definitely gets an A for effort. And he looked especially gorgeous, so that's always a plus.

The stage
--Great set-up this year. I really loved the intimacy of the stars being literally right in front of the stage.


What I Hated:

The inevitable 'Slumdog' sweep
--I don't think I've ever rooted for a 'Crash'-redux so fervently, ever. Any year since then. But hey, good for them, they (Danny Boyle) certainly were enthusiastic. Even though they didn't deserve really any of those awards other than for Best Original Song. Whatever. I'm over it.

Overall I thought it was a really great show, certainly one of the best I've seen this decade. It flew by like nothing! Great job, Bill Condon. You actually pulled it off.