Wow, apparently no speculation for this year's awards, considering they are all over now.

I thought Jon Stewart did a great job as MC, even to congratulating each winner after they left the stage. Best line of the night "Coming up: a Hollywood salute to montages." I loved the opening bit sweeping through the streets of Hollywood with clips from movies. Just curious as to why they colorized Charlie Chaplin, but left Marlon Brando and Humphrey Bogart in black & white.

I guess I didn't see it last year, but I did notice the background music during the acceptance speeches this time. I think it's nice if done subtly, but there was no need to cut off the final speaker of the night. It amazes me that this awards show can be 3.5 to 4 hours long, there are about 15 major awards given, and the winners are only allowed about 60 seconds to speak?

I don't think I've seen a single one of the nominees except for "War of the Worlds". I just don't go out to movies any more. I thought it was interesting that several times it was mentioned that "you just gotta see it on a big screen!" Sorry, I find my home environment much more comfortable (and cheaper!) I think I will add several to my Netflix queue however.

I thought it was very interesting in the contrast between Itzhak Perlman's wonderful violin piece, and the rap song that followed soon after. I was thinking, while rap would be appropriate for the MTV awards, it seemed really out of place here.

Then they won. I liked how enthusiastic they were, and how Jon Stewart commented "Now, that's how you accept an Academy award!" Still, it kind of put things in perspective when he said "By the way, Martin Scorsese -- zero Academy awards, 3-6 Mafia -- one!"

I had completely forgotten they were on. Didn't realize it until around 3 in the morning when the radio aired "And the winner is Crash!"

Not that there were any films or actors I was really rooting for. I didn't care for any of the pics in the big categories.

Still it's the first time I haven't watched in I-don't-know how long.

Did like Stewart's "This is the first time many of you have voted for a winner." comment though.

I guess I didn't see it last year, but I did notice the background music during the acceptance speeches this time. I think it's nice if done subtly, but there was no need to cut off the final speaker of the night. It amazes me that this awards show can be 3.5 to 4 hours long, there are about 15 major awards given, and the winners are only allowed about 60 seconds to speak?

I thought that the music during the acceptance speeches was obnoxious. The winners were given relatively short time limits which were apparently counted down on clocks they could see from the stage. There was no reason why the music couldn't start when the time limit ran out. The other thing I didn't like was how multiple winners in specific award categories were not given any collective extention of time to speak. I'm not suggesting that the time should have been double for two winners or triple for three, etc. I'm just suggesting that if there were two winners in a given award category, and the first winner ate up all but five seconds of the allotted speaking time, the second winner should have been given at least 15 to 20 seconds to get in a few quick words. It wouldn't have expanded the show's airtime that much. I did like how the winner for best foreign film told people in his speech to visit the movie's website to view his full list of people thanked.

I thought it was very interesting in the contrast between Itzhak Perlman's wonderful violin piece, and the rap song that followed soon after. I was thinking, while rap would be appropriate for the MTV awards, it seemed really out of place here.

Well, a rap song was nominated in the best song category, and it was the nominated rap song that was featured during the show (along with the other two nominated songs, as is customary in Oscar telecasts). If the song seemed out of place to you, would I be correct in guessing that you aren't presently comfortable with the idea of a rap song being nominated for an Oscar in the best song category? I'll say this - having seen "Hustle & Flow" in its entirety (within the last 3 hours of this writing), I don't think that the presentation of the song during the Oscar telecast did the song justice. The Oscar presentation was loud and tacky, and the song lyrics were largely unintelligible, with the exclusion of the hook, "You know, it's hard out here for a pimp...". In the movie, the song is rapped by the main character alone in a makeshift recording studio (two other male characters provide the music, and a female character provides the song's hook), and the delivery is significantly more toned down and intelligible than was 3-6 Mafia's delivery during the Oscar telecast. Additionally, the movie provides the song with context, and by watching the movie, one can see how the song serves the movie and the main character, as well as how credible that song is within the movie. I think that most people who aren't much into rap and/or who hadn't seen the movie prior to the Oscar telecast understandably may have had little clue why "some rap song about pimping" was nominated (and won) an Oscar for best song. The answer was not in 3-6 Mafia's Oscar performance, but it was in the movie.

I didn't care for any of the pics in the big categories.

I didn't care about anything in regard to this year's Oscars. I haven't seen any of the nominated films or performances, and I avoided the show entirely, as I've done the past few years.

Most uncomfortable 2006 Oscar moment:

Lauren Bacall stumbling badly through her delivery of the introduction to the Oscar salute to Film Noir.

Agreed.

And what's with all the teleprompters and the stiff deliveries? You'd think that actors above all would be less stilted when giving the admittedly corny little introductions.

There's some difference between being skilled in acting and being skilled in public speaking, as the Oscars show every year.

Like last year, the only category which interested me was Best Animated Feature. And like last year, the one that should have won did win.

Actors are used to Acting (memorizing their lines, figuring out what emotions to use, etc.), not Reading Things Off Teleprompters.

A few years ago some newspaper article mentioned that as one reason why newscasters usually work better on awards shows than actors.