The ACADEMY AWARDS

FWIW, which is very little: I thought they really tried to breathe some life into this year's show, and succeeded in some ways.

The set was beautiful. I would have loved to have seen all those hanging crystals in person. I like that they moved the audience in closer to the stage. Liked that they didn't cut anyone with music. This is the first year in many I can say I see someone trying to make it better.

Hugh Jackman worked for me. I thought he brought a new zing! to the show. Much better than the usually self-conscious jokesters they have tried.

I liked having the 5 previous winners or nominees cite this year's individuals. The words were sometimes wonderful and not gushy; others seemed poorly written and empty (maybe the stars did their own thing?) Never forgot in every movie, there are WRITERS putting words into the actors' mouths. Some just don't do well by themselves.

Queen Latifah drips class. She has a self-possession and calm which is magnetic.

Loved the montages. A few "WOW"s were voiced by me.

There were better exchanges between presenters. I laughed at Ben Stiller. In fact I laughed several times out loud. The filmed Judd Aptow piece was hilarious. Again I laughed out loud.

Strangely, there were several times when the self-professed "party atmosphere" lagged due to simple indulgent (slow) production - when they'd go to animation for the categories... it halted the flow. The pieces were too long.

The audience watching from home will never ever be huge when the show is bogged down by categories you don't know (though the explanations were neat - I really loved the screenplay part) and people you don't care about thanking lists of names you also never heard of.

So basically, the evening is psychotic, as the industry pimps itself to the public and to itself. If it could come down on the audience side, eliminate the broadcast of the doldrums awards, it could re inflate the ratings.