81st Oscars: Live Blogging

Have to say, I'm really liking the format for the acting awards, with a handful of winners from the past introducing the current nominees. Feels personal and emotional, which is nice. When Whoopi Goldberg, Anjelica Huston, & the others got out there right before Penelope Cruz won, I was really into it. It felt like history -- and community -- rather than a single person winning a single award in a singular moment.

One awkward? moment -- I wasn't quite sure about Cuba Gooding, Jr.'s presentation of Robert Downey, Jr. as a Best Supporting Actor nominee. On one hand, it seemed like he was poking fun... on the other hand, he used all the time allotted him to poke fun. If there was some real resentment there I wouldn't be all that surprised (or blame Cuba in the least). I haven't seen Tropic Thunder but it's my personal opinion that a white actor in blackface will always be a slap in the face, no matter how "clever" the character supposedly is. But again, I haven't seen it. Still, Hollywood is often rather clueless about these sorts of things, even as "liberal" as they claim to be. So I'm not quite willing to take their word for it in this particular instance. Especially since no men of color were nominated in either acting category at all. Stay classy, Academy.