Watching the Oscars from China

It's amazing that I watched part of the show from a LCD TV on a Metro transit bus this morning in Beijing.

The best surprise is Crash won the best picture. Although it's my favorite, I didn't realize the Academy sit on the same side. See the stories from the Times and the Guardian.

The other not-so-surprised results are:
Best Documentary: Match of the Penguins
Best Leading Actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman
Best Director: Ang Lee

For that,

Thank you, the Academy.

Jon Stewart put up a decent act to host the show. He is no Billy Crystal, but he sure matches what Steve Martin did a few years ago.

Here's some of this memorable one-liners quoted from Newsday.

On "Capote": "The movie that showed the world that not all gay people are virile cowboys; some are actually effete New York intellectuals."

On presenters: "Bjork couldn't be here tonight. ... She was trying on her Oscar dress and Dick Cheney shot her."

On "Walk the Line": "'Ray' with white people."

On "Crash": "Raise your hand if you are not in Crash", refering to the 100 or so LA actors in the movie.