That gentleman does make an excellent point about Ewan McGregor.

[the_deep_magic]

So, uh, if anybody still cares about the Oscars (which I watched while I should have been studying for my insane Crim Theory midterm yesterday), I went 11 for 24, so a slight improvement over last year.  And I guess I really ought to see Life of Pi (though I still want to read the book first).

I don't guess there's really much to be said about Seth MacFarlane that hasn't already been said.  I was hopeful at the beginning -- Shatner helped, of course, but the opening bit was fairly funny.  I didn't even mind the "We Saw Your Boobs" song at the time, because I saw it as him lampooning his own stupid, offensive-for-its-own-sake sense of humor.  But then he just kept on with the stupid, offensive-for-its-own-sake  sense of humor, which I suppose I should have seen coming.  He even had a few genuinely funny bits (the Christopher Plummer introduction and the Meryl Streep non-introduction), but it's like he just can't stop himself from aiming for the lowest common denominator.  And it was pointed out to me that at least four of the examples in the "Boobs" song were from rape scenes.  Were there any actual headlines that said "Seth MacFarlane worst Oscar host ever"?  Because that would have been appropriate, even if it meant Kirk-ex-machina had failed in his mission.

Anyway, if you haven't seen/heard "We Saw Your Junk" (lyrics NSFW, but if you've got headphones, you're fine), that makes it a little better.

I really hope they weren't joking about getting Tina and Amy to host next year.  I get that hosting the Oscars is a pretty thankless job, but surely there are ways to do it that don't cause viewers to cramp because they're cringing so hard.

Comments

[eefreeboo.livejournal.com]

This to everything you said. I usuallly do predictions too, and have a little bet on a few, but didn't bother this year. I never bothered with Life of Pi either but feel I should do now so am seeing it tomorrow.

I have no real opinion about MacFarlane, despite completely despising Ted, so was prepared to give him a chance but he was just meh really, which is probably the worse thing you can say about him. Shatner improved things immeasurably, his comic timing and tone was perfect. I too didn't really mind the "boobs" song until I read about the rape thing and also agree that it would have worked better as a "this is how you think I'm going to do things" if he hadn't then carried on with the same tone for the rest of the show.

Other than that though I did think the show had it's moments. It was a bit flabby and poorly paced/directed but I thought the musical numbers (MacFarlane aside) redeemed it quite a bit, Bassey and Streisand in particular. It's what made it special for me growing up as our own awards were always a bit staid and formal but the last few years had seen it start to become more like the BAFTAs so I'm glad reverted to type a little. I think I just miss the time when there were more proper film songs that they could use though, even if it was bloody Celine Dion!

Still think Jon Stewart was the best host of recent times but also think Hugh Jackman did a decent job, taking into account I like all that musical guff ;) (though I thought he was bloody awful in Les Mis and I generally love him).

[the-deep-magic.livejournal.com]

it would have worked better as a "this is how you think I'm going to do things" if he hadn't then carried on with the same tone for the rest of the show.

EXACTLY THIS. I thought the song-and-dance number with Daniel Radcliffe meant that he'd gotten the crudeness out of his system and was going to be classier for the rest of the night. Alas, that lasted about ten minutes.

I don't really miss the performance of the songs, especially because they would usually have some weird, mood-inappropriate choreography going on in the background. I agree with you about Jon Stewart, though. I'd love to see what Stephen Colbert would do with it.