Oscar

I was very pleased when Wallace and Gromit won the Best Animated Feature Oscar last night. However, I was entirely neutral on the subject; I adored all three of the nominated movies and couldn't choose which one to root for (I saw the last of the three, The Corpse Bride, only three weeks ago and I think I loved it even more than The Nightmare Before Christmas, which is saying quite a lot. The animation was top-notch, of course, and I always love a story where I can't predict right away how it's going to reach its resolution).

The award helped support a theory I formed two years ago when Spirited Away won. When its name was announced, it got three times as much applause as the previous movies in the category and I said, "That's the one that's going to win." And it did. This year, Wallace and Gromit got the big applause, and lo and behold... My theory on this is that in the minor categories, like animated films and documentaries (March of the Penguins got the big applause and won as well), most people in the audience haven't seen many of the nominated films. So if there's one they have seen and liked, it's the one most likely to be most popular among voting members of the Academy.

As for the rest, I hadn't seen any of the Best Film nominees, so I remained neutral on the subject. We watched mostly to see Jon Stewart.