If "LOR'' won for editing, it would win for anything. And it did, taking home 11 Oscars, including for best picture and best director. It swept every category for which it was nominated and tied "Titanic'' and "Ben Hur'' for the most Oscars ever.

Hey, don't get me wrong, it was a great achievement, but did it have to win everything? OK, now that I got that off my chest, here are some other Oscar observations.

·Andrew Stanton, director of "Finding Nemo,'' gave the best acceptance speech of the night, when he said to his wife, "I wrote it to you in a note in the eighth grade; now I can say it in front of one billion people. I love you.'' Can Andrew be cloned? l Will Ferrell and Jack Black had the funniest banter, singing "You're Boring'' to the music that always interrupts people after they speak too long.

·Didn't Michael Douglas look like a smug jerk when his wife came out to present an award? Granted, Catherine Zeta-Jones is one of the most beautiful people on the planet, but that smirk on his face seemed to be saying, "And I own her.'' Yuck.

·Billy Crystal was funny as always, but didn't the show feel a bit limp? His film montage, which opened the show, was hilarious except it went on too long and had way too many Pete Rose jokes. What does Pete Rose have to do with the movies? And his song parodies were fun but came right on top of the over-long film montage. Spread the wealth throughout the show, Billy.

·Peter Jackson looked like he slept in his suit the night before the Oscars. It begs the question, are some people just genetically rumpled and incapable of looking put together? And here's a shocker: A designer actually made that suit for him.

·Hey, Sean Penn is a great actor and deserved his best actor award, not only for his stunning performance in "Mystic River'' but for his entire career, but what was up with the standing ovation? I suspect it was one of those, "Geez, people are standing up so I better stand up or I'll be making some kind of statement if I don't stand up'' standing ovations.

·I was relieved that finally, after years of flaky best-actress acceptance speeches, winner Charlize Theron gave a good one.

·Doesn't Alison Krauss have a great voice? It was a pleasure to hear her sing two of the best song nominations. But it was even better to see Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara reprise "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow'' from "Mighty Wind.'' If only one of those worthy songs had won.

·I think I'd be scared if I had to interact with Clint Eastwood.

·Where were Viggo Mortensen and Orlando Bloom, the two best-looking citizens of Middle Earth? l Hey, Bill Murray, Sofia Coppola is not a girl, she is a woman. A woman with an Oscar.

·Uma Thurman wore the ugliest dress of the night, but at least somebody had some bad taste. I miss the days when talking about the Oscars the next day was like dishing dirt. These days it's an exercise in refinement.


(Jane Holahan is a New Era staff writer. Her column appears every Wednesday.) blog comments powered by Disqus