Did you watch the Academy Awards last night? I did, at least the last couple hours of them. They were okay, and was it just me, or did they actually finish on time? Probably because they were just the wee-est bit lacking in, well, written material.

It was the first thing that Suzanne and I noticed. (I’m in Pasadena at the moment, for a ghost-writing assignment and to take a thetahealing workshop which I finished this weekend.) The Oscars basically used film clips from old shows to fill in many of the moments that normally would have been written sketches or monologues. They showed montages of past presentations of each award, which I actually liked. Now, I’m certain the producers would tell you it was because of the 80th anniversary of the Oscars, but I’m equally certain that it was a convenient way to deal with a lack of prep time for writers.

I know, I know, the strike ended a couple weeks ago. But a couple of weeks is not a very long lead time to come up with material for a show on the magnitude of the Academy Awards.

My favorite moments were when the male half of the duo who one for best song from the movie Once raised his Oscar in the air and said, “Make art! Make art!” and then there wasn’t enough time for the woman to speak but they brought her out later and she talked all about having hope as an artist. And the second best moment (because the above really counts as only one) was when the woman won for best screenwriter for the film Juno, and she dedicated the award to all the writers. She had an awful dress on, but no matter, she was cool.

I’m just glad the strike is over and they pulled the ceremony off. Now everyone can get back to work and the economy of this strange and wonderful place can get back to normal.

Update: I just found this link [no longer available]where you can go to read the full story about the Best Song Co-Winners.