The 78th Annual Academy Awards

It's not often that I give the Academy Awards 10/10; after all, what is it except self-congratulation? But Jon Stewart was the perfect host. He was exactly right in his question to Steven Spielberg when referring to "Schindler's List" and "Munich": what will happen to us Jews next?

The only problem this year was the final award: "Brokeback Mountain" was something new, while "Crash" was a little too safe. But other than that, I liked "The 78th Annual Academy Awards". Back in the days when only big, overblown, pompous musicals could receive nominations for Best Original Song, who would have guessed that there would be a winner called "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp"? But, as Jon Stewart noted, it just got a lot easier for a pimp!

Anyway, I agreed with most of the winners, even if there were some predictable ones (but don't get me wrong: Philip Seymour Hoffman and Reese Witherspoon both did very well in their performances). And I laud George Clooney for encouraging Hollywood to make more movies about what's going on in the world, such as "Syriana". Knowing what a great host Jon Stewart was, I would like to see Stephen Colbert host the Oscars one year; in his persona, he could rant against Hollywood for hating America (let's face it: how many movies has Hollywood made saying anything good about the US of A?).

All in all, a great ceremony, especially with Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin overlapping their dialogue to award Robert Altman (RIP) his Honorary Oscar.