Oscar Postmortem Pt. 3: The show

Properly reviewing an Oscar ceremony can be tedious business, so I'm not gonna do it. Not properly, at least. The whole never quite amounts to the sum of its parts (although the Condon/Mark production from 2009 comes awfully close), so it's easiest just to look back and assess those parts at face value. Let's take a look at some moments that stood out (for me anyway) at the 86th Academy Awards

After last year's show hosted by Seth McFarlane came under such harsh critical fire, the pressure was on returning producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron to atone. They made all the safest possible choices, and it started with the selection of Ellen Degeneres to return as host after her first kick at the can seven years ago.

Ellen assures viewers around the world, "We're fine. Thank you for your prayers" in regards to the rain.

My Award nominations: Original Song

As is the case every year, it's usually a bit of a struggle to find enough original songs that I feel significantly add to the films in which their used. But in the end, I always manage to cobble together five. Listen to my five favourite Original Songs of the year:

One Category at a Time: Original Song

Oh, where to begin with this category. Last year it looked like the music branch had maybe taken a step towards not embarrassing themselves on a yearly basis, having recently overhauled their voting system to yield five respectable (if not unanimously exceptional) nominees. Well, that streak was short-lived, as this year saw the suspicious nomination of the ultra-obscure Alone Yet Not Alone for music branch executive committee member Bruce Broughton, who apparently sent out emails soliciting votes. The Academy went and humiliated Mr. Broughton even further by revoking the nomination, but then decided not to replace it with another song, which is so sad and unfair for that sixth place song, whatever it may have been.

It's all a moot point anyhow. It's not as if Alone Yet Not Alone's disqualification has suddenly cleared the path for anything else to win, although the situation raises some questions about the where to draw the line on campaigning that merit discussion and possibly review. But now that the dust has settled, let's look at the four that remain: