First, for those who lack basic access to the media, and who frighteningly rely on this site for news of the world, here are last night's Oscar winners.

My overall review: eh. Host Jon Stewart got in a few decent jabs (at 80 years old, the Oscar is the de facto Republican front-runner for the nomination), there were a couple of mild surprises (the woman from La Vie en Rose beating Julie Christie for Best Actress), and a couple of touching moments (Jon Stewart bringing the woman half of the Best Song team back out after the commercial to make up for her having been cut off prematurely). But there was a lot of self-indulgent wankery (is there any other kind?), so I was happy for the ongoing discussion on Twitter to keep me company.

Anyway, throughout the show I kept a few quasi-random notes to share with you.

• I won't pretend to fully understand the categories like art direction, make-up, costume design, and the other technical awards. Nonetheless, I would be curious to hear actual practitioners of the form explain why some of these winners deserved the honor. I can only appreciate the superficial aspects, but of course there is a lot of skill and nuance I miss.
• There is a persistent myth that over a billion people watch the Oscar telecast. It simply isn't true.
• Diablo Cody is an attractive woman with E! Hollywood Story written all over her. Nonetheless, she won an Academy Award for original screenplay. Does every sound bite or news article need to lead with her past as an exotic dancer?
• The "In Memoriam" clip is always poignant, but more so this year with the inclusion of Heath Ledger. (I correctly predicted that his would be the final name shown in the segment.) However, the criteria for inclusion is very murky. Still, it seems odd that Roy Scheider would be omitted, as well as Brad Renfro. Did they have the poor timing to die after editing was complete on the segment?

I'll sort out the winner of our contest soon, but since there were only three entries (one coming right at the start of the awards), I suppose it doesn't much matter.