Actually, I've watched the Oscars all my life. I am a huge movie buff. But this awards show sucks, pure and simple. It just ain't what it used to be.

Sure, I'll see some films that were honored last night when they are released on DVD. But not because they were honored with a nomination. I'll see them, because they look good.

And I disagree that people tune into this broadcast to learn about the films. I think it is the celebrity watching people tune in for.

That's what I tuned in for--to see Jon Stewart. But this bloated, behemoth of a broadcast just isn't worth 4 hours of my remaining time on earth anymore. Of course, I've been saying that for years, and still tune in most years for at least awhile. But this really has become an exercise in celebrities worshipping themselves and one another. It is vacuously disturbing to watch these people. Frighteningly so.

And really, what was so different this year? Spielberg still lost, just like he always does. The blockbusters got the tech awards, the "brave" films got nods for writing. The pretty picture (Memoirs of a Geisha) won the costume, art, blah blah blah. Utterly predictable. Even the "surprise best picture" was predictable. They picked the film with the happy ending.

Hollywood is a very scary place. Films made by Hollywood players and powerbrokers are NOT indie films, no matter what Robert Redford says at Sundance every year, or how "small" the budget by Hollywood standards.