Oscar Night

A hearty hip-hip for the _Lord of the Rings_ gang for sweeping their nominations last night. Well-deserved recognition isn’t something the Oscars necessarily specialize in, so this was a refreshing change. These wins will open more doors and greenlight even more projects for Peter Jackson & Co. The fact that he’ll be able to do whatever the heck he wants in next few films is very, very good news for the world of film.

The TV show was nothing special. No antiwar rants or audacious kisses to mix things up. Billy Crystal was brilliant, which is to say that he barely managed to keep the proceedings from becoming mind-numbingly boring. Most Unwelcome New Face: that guy Billy who scurried around stuffing his mic into people’s faces in the preshow. Lordy, I hope he drops from sight. Most Welcome New Face: Fran Walsh, who’s been notoriously camera-shy through all the LOTR buzz. But she got up there for a couple of awards, and looked absolutely stunning. _Loved_ the funky hair. “This picture”:http://www.baltimoresun.com/media/thumbnails/photo/2002-03/2466581.jpg is the best I found though it doesn’t get across the whole of her look.

Other awards . . . Bill Murray got robbed, but he’ll have his day. Kudos to Sofia Coppola for her well-deserved Screenplay win. And everyone in the Academy must be kicking themselves for not picking Belleville Rendez-vous as the Best Song. I guess you can forgive them since they probably, like me, hadn’t heard it ’till Oscar Night.

UPDATE: Down in the comments, alert reader Sara Gordon points out that the pic I linked to isn’t from Sunday night’s Oscars. Maybe a previous one or even another award show. Since then I’ve been trying to find a picture of Fran from that night, but so far without success. I’ll keep trying.

UPDATE: “Here’s a pic”:http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/040301/photos_en/mdf484903 that’s definitely from Oscars 2004, though it’s only from the side. Thanks for finding it, Ana!