Oscars Live Blog – Part 4

• By honoring the “nutty professor,” Eddie Murphy simultaneously honors the life of a comedy great (Jerry Lewis), and the death of another (the funny Eddie Murphy). Seriously, how does someone go from Trading Places to Pluto Nash? Did he become a Scientologist or something?
• Original Score: Slumdog again. 13/18. It’s pretty cool how Danny Boyle used so many Indian talents behind the scenes. Solid speech. This is a neat story.
• It seems like the Oscars songs stick in my head more than anything else from past shows. I remember watching Elliot Smith perform Miss Misery on a wooden stool in front of a red curtain… Glen Hansard and Marketa Ignova’s beautiful acceptance speech last year… Paul McCartney doing Vanilla Sky… Randy Newman doing Toy Story songs… Elton John… Bruce Springsteen… tons more.
• These performances weren’t very spectacular. It seemed a little out of sync. No Peter Gabriel. No M.I.A.. Bummer. Jai Ho should win… and does. 14/19. Another solid speech. It’s hard to believe that Slumdog Millionaire almost went straight to DVD. No wonder Danny Boyle looks so emotional. His acceptance speech for Directing is going to be memorable.
• Foreign Language Film: Departures wins for Japan. First big surprise of the night. Waltz with Bashir is shut out. 14/20. I hadn’t really heard anything about this movie. Another bad Michael Scott impression.
• Queen Latifah introduces the dead people and makes us feel guilty for not appreciating or missing them the way the famous people do. On cue, my mom makes the obligatory female response to seeing Queen Latifah: “She’s such a beautiful person.” It’s impossible for them to not say this.
• What is the minimum importance required to get your face on this montage after you die? I wonder what I can do to get on there… Will slmost being in Day/Night do it for me? I need to get an IMDB page started…