So how about those Oscars, folks? If you’re like me- and if you are indeed like me, then sorry about the pale complexion and crippling inferiority complex- you were let down by the massive amounts of love thrown at Slumdog Millionaire by the Academy rank-and-file. I mean, Best Sound- really? Over the likes of WALL*E, which was largely dependent on its sound to tell the story? In the Academy’s defense, I too might be inclined to love A.R. Rahman’s Slumdog score if I’d never seen a Bollywood movie. But anyway… while Slumdog’s dominance of Oscar night may have been a disappointment for some, it certainly wasn’t a surprise to most people. Consider that 73% of you folks predicted the film to take home the big award, compared to 18% for Milk, 9% for Benjamin Button, and no votes for anything else. Even more of a foregone conclusion in your eyes was Danny Boyle’s direction of Slumdog, which brought in a whopping 91% of the vote, with the only other voter being Gus Van Sant, who despite being nominated for the wrong movie (Paranoid Park is miles better than Milk, I’d say), was nonetheless more deserving of the Oscar this year. But to misquote last year’s Oscar winner, we simply couldn’t stop what was coming.

As for the rest of the show, I know many of you are let down about Mickey Rourke not taking home best actor, to say nothing of the missed opportunity to behold a Werner Herzog Oscar speech. But hey, it wasn’t all bad, right? Jackman had a few good moments as host, even if he generally stayed out of the way of the proceedings. And while most of the winners seemed pre-ordained, there were some interesting changes to this year’s ceremony to keep us diverted. Some were more into the new method for awarding the acting Oscars than others- while some enjoyed seeing the nominees’ reactions to being praised by their esteemed peers, others saw the awards-show equivalent of the Elders’ Tribunal from Superman. Below, I’ve listed three of the more obvious changes to the Oscar telecast, along with an audience-pleasing montage that offered some reprieve from the usual self-importance of the form. So, which was your favorite Oscars moment?



Feel free to use the comments section below, especially if you should vote for “other.” See you next week for what promises to be the first in a long line of non-Oscar-related Thursday polls.