Most surprising Oscar story for me:

[No Elephants]

The biggest surprise of the nominations, according to movie critics, was that Affleck was not nominated for Best Director.


The biggest surprise of the Oscar show, according to me, was that, while accepting the Oscar (as co-producer) for Best Picture, Ben Affleck thanked his wife for working on their marriage.

“I want to thank our friends in Iran living in a terrible circumstance right now,” he said. “I want to thank my wife, who I don’t normally associate with Iran, but I want to thank you for working on our marriage. … It is work, but it’s the best kind of work and there’s no one I’d rather work with.”

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/02/michelle-obama-names-best-picture-in-surprise-oscars-appearance/


That was more surprising to me than that Michelle Obama was a presenter. Well, not really a presenter, given that she did not present anyone with an Oscar. But, she did announce the Best picture winner from the White House.

Hollywood fundraiser for Obama, George Clooney, was a co-producer of that film and therefore one of the recipients of the Oscar for Best Picture. Supposedly, though, no one knows the winner beforehand, except the people who count the votes. :shrug:

Most tasteless: Jack Nicholson. For some unkiown reason, he went on the stage with the co-producers of Argo and posed for pictures with them. And, he butt into the interview of Best Actress winner Jennifter Lawrence, too. Guess Jack's been missing the limelight?
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A puzzling thing this year. Many who commented on the Oscars beforehand discussed how nominees lobby the Academy voters. There is apparently even a profession akin to Axelrod's, but in the campaigning to win the Oscar field.

I had not thought about it before, but I was not surprised when I heard it. Sally Field, for one, has been on so many shows, both before and after the nominations, talkikng about how she had to fight for the role of Mary Todd Lincoln.

What puzzles me--this has probably been going on for years. Why this year did everyone start talking about it.

Mercifully, I missed Seth MacFarlane's 17 minute opener.

Never got Chinese take out, either. Wasn't hungry.

In all, I thought the TV Guide program about Oscars of the past and how some of the Oscar traditions came about was more interesting than the Oscar broadcast.