Then there's the issue of Polanski's crime. The fact that Roman Polanski has defenders is just as inexplicable and offensive to me as the fact that Pete Rose has defenders. This is a man who not only committed a sex crime against a child, but has been a fugitive from justice for more than a quarter century. Now he may be a brilliant filmmaker (I have not yet seen "The Pianist," but everything I've heard is that it's great), but excusing his crime just because many in showbiz have snorted mountains of coke and cheated on each of their four wives (both of which Scorsese has done) is the sort of moral vapidity that can only come from Hollywood. Polanski's behavior should NOT be forgiven just because he's a Holocaust survivor, just because the Manson Family killed his wife, or just because he made a great film. The man could make a masterpiece a year for the next decade- and he would still belong behind bars.
And one more thing: had Roman Polanski molested a male child and not a female, would he have won Best Director last night? Were R. Kelly in the habit of videotaping sex with underage boys rather than underage girls, would he have the #1 album in the country right now? I'm guessing the answer to both questions is HELL NO.

Say Goodbye, Say Goodbye Hollywood. Eminem is now an Academy Award winner; Martin Scorsese is not.

Martinized. Steve Martin was uneven as host, often doing the best he could with substandard material. But he made up for every lame joke with that (apparently adlibbed) slam of Michael Moore, and he's not Whoopi Goldberg, which may be his best quality as a comedian. Also, strange that Martin mentioned Steven Spielberg at the end. SS was not on hand, and not nominated for anything, even though he directed two movies this year.

The Prime of Mr. Adrian Brody. Now that Brody has won Best Actor (defeating four former winners in the process), I may now finally know the difference between him, Jim Caviezel, and Ben Chaplin. (Malick's "Thin Red Line" still confuses me, even four years later). Brody's speech was classy, as he's one of the few recent winners who wasn't lying when he said he wasn't expecting it. And while it may have looked bad that he kissed Halle Berry full on the lips after winning, but I know I would've done the same thing, and if you're male, you would've too.

War on War. I didn't find any of the pro-peace/anti-war messages particularly offensive. Moore is Moore, Brody had the grace to mention his buddy from Queens who's a soldier in Kuwait, and several others "hoped for peace in Iraq soon," which applies to everyone on either side of the debate. The grande dames of Hollywood's aloof left, Susan Sarandon and Barbra Streissand, both managed to stay on script, though less impressive was the Spanish-speaking contingent: screenplay winner Pedro Almodovar spoke in favor of "democracy" in denouncing the war in Iraq (huh?), while presenter Gael Garcia Bernal declared that "if Frida Kahlo were alive today, she'd be against the war." Probably, although if Kahlo were still alive she'd probably be too depressed about the fall of communism to care about a mere US intervention in the Middle East. Is Garcia Bernal prepared to endorse Kahlo's politics in full?