First: the predictions.  You can always look down below and compare with any results page you may see to see exactly which catagories I got right, I’m not going to go through them all.  Overall I got 14 out of the 23 or 24 catagories right, not a great record considering how many I saw, but pretty serviceable, and at least it’s above 50%.  The good news is that I got all eight of the big eight categories right.  Since these are the really important catagories anyway, and the ones that don’t require a bunch of technical knowledge, I take a lot of pride in this.  Especially because in order to get all eight of these right, I took a big risk and it paid off.

That risk was picking Sean Penn over Mickey Rourke, whom almost everyone was predicting, and had already one most of the lead up awards.  I did this mostly because I thought it was the better performance.  As much as I generally am not a fan of the way Sean Penn presents himself in front of the media in real life, he totally dissapeared in the character of Harvey Milk, and made him incredibly likable as well.  Meanwhile, Mickey Rourke’s performance, while fantastic as well, was essentially him putting himself out there for all to see.  Both good, but I think Sean Penn’s role was more challenging and better executed.  Luckily the acadamy agreed.  I also think Penn gave a really excellent acceptance speech.   I hate when everyone’s speech is just listing a bunch of names, and his had meaning, was well put, and delivered a message I felt needed to be said.

Obviously I agreed at least to some extent with the rest of the big eight picks.  Slumdog was a great, and uplifting movie.  But this year, more than any before, has made me feel the arbitrariness of choosing a “best” of anything when it comes to films.  So many movies were fantastic in their own way this year.  All of the best picture nominations were greatly successful at what they were trying to do, and their aims were all worthwhile.  But even other than those five, Doubt, Dark Knight, The Wrestler, Wall-E, and Iron Man all are equally fantastic in their own ways.  It’s really comparing apples and oranges, only the fruits are some of the best that you’ve ever tasted and they are a thousand times more complex than fruit.

As for the show itself, I enjoyed it for the most part.  Hugh Jackman did a good job in his musical numbers, but I did miss having a good stand-up comedian on hand.  In turn, the highlight of the night for me was the combination of Steve Martin and Tina Fey, both fine comedians who are among my favorite performers to watch.  Ben Stiller’s jab at Joaquin Phoenix and Apatow’s tribute to comedy were also great.  And I did like the new way of presenting the acting nominations, especially since it went along with my desire for all these fantastic performances to be rewarded.  It’s too bad something similar can’t be done for all the nominees.

That’s about all I have to say, but I’ve learned to try and be a little more on top of things early on if I’m going to try and watch everything.  Looking forward to blockbuster season now, though.