# It's the 80th Annual Academy Awards® Thread! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 25, 2008, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-80th-annual-academy-awards-thread/439026 "2008-02-25T01:25:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![aldiboronti](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@aldiboronti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aldiboronti)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-80th-annual-academy-awards-thread/439026/241 "2008-02-25T06:56:07Z")
Has Jon Stewart got his hands on compromising photos of Gil Cates, the organizer of the Oscars? I can’t think of any other explanation for his recent lock on presenting. He was dire last night, his material was so poor one would have thought there was a writers’ strike on. Letterman, Rock, DeGeneres, Stewart - and they wonder why the Oscar viewing figures are dropping like a stone? The days of Billy Crystal and Steve Martin, when the Oscar compering was actually funny, are a distant memory. But honestly, they could have dug up Bob Hope, propped him up against the mike, and he would _still_ have been funnier than Stewart last night. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-80th-annual-academy-awards-thread/439026/242 "2008-02-25T06:56:57Z")
I am a long-time Julie Christie fan and I saw _Away From Her_. It was a tremendous performance and a powerful movie. I thought she would win. I liked all of the nominees. But I did have a favorite that I _thought_ was a long shot. For I am also an Edith Piaf fan. The young French woman knocked my polka dot heels off with her performance. She _was_ Piaf! I never dreamed that the actress was such a pretty young woman under the makeup. Piaf ages quite a bit during the film and it all looks for real. I haven’t been so pleased with a win in a long time! ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-80th-annual-academy-awards-thread/439026/243 "2008-02-25T07:06:54Z")
I think Jon Stewart has humor, poise, and class, and I’m glad it’s back to being the Oscars and not The Billy Crystal Show. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-80th-annual-academy-awards-thread/439026/244 "2008-02-25T08:11:42Z")
I liked Stewart’s hosting but I was curious if he was going to go over as well as he did last time: generally people at home kind of enjoying him (the highest level of praise any Oscar host will get) and people in the entertainment industry loathing him. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-80th-annual-academy-awards-thread/439026/245 "2008-02-25T13:22:02Z")
[QUOTE=aldiboronti] Has Jon Stewart got his hands on compromising photos of Gil Cates, the organizer of the Oscars? I can’t think of any other explanation for his recent lock on presenting. He was dire last night, his material was so poor one would have thought there was a writers’ strike on. Letterman, Rock, DeGeneres, Stewart - and they wonder why the Oscar viewing figures are dropping like a stone? The days of Billy Crystal and Steve Martin, when the Oscar compering was actually funny, are a distant memory. But honestly, they could have dug up Bob Hope, propped him up against the mike, and he would _still_ have been funnier than Stewart last night. [/QUOTE] Your opinion, I find him better than anyone other than Crystal in the last 20 years or so. Martin in fact was not funny to me and I normally like him. Jim ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-80th-annual-academy-awards-thread/439026/246 "2008-02-25T13:46:11Z")
Re: Stewart’s performance. Started off strong, faded late in the first hour. It is really hard for someone used to short-format comedy to keep it going for 3+ hours. And once some jokes fall flat, the air goes out of the sails and the flop sweat takes over. Hard to recover from that. Also, the crowd is always horrible. E.g., he started telling a joke and they started applauding after the set up. Folks, it’s a joke, not an applause line. Let him finish it without interuption. By the end of the 2nd hour you could tell he just didn’t care anymore and was mentally on the plane back to NY. Tilda Swinton winning wasn’t a surprise, after the BAFTAs, I figured her chances went up quite a bit in what was considered an open field. (The BAFTAs turned out to be quite good predictors this year.) But: Ugly hair and gown. And you can’t really _give_ your Oscar to someone. It belongs to the Academy and you more or less are borrowing it. I was really surprised that they showed such a late scene from _Michael Clayon_ for her clip. Talk about spoilers. As for Valenti. First rate jerk. No morals whatsoever. In addition to turning Congress against the legal rights of consumers, he also set up this sham rating system. Go see “This Film is Not Yet Rated” to get an brief idea of what a mess he created. Yeah, pretty weak year for the Death Montage. I guess that is a good thing? (Nice to see a big hand for Bergman.) ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-80th-annual-academy-awards-thread/439026/247 "2008-02-25T13:48:10Z")
Yeah, I personally think that Jon Stewart is really funny and last night was no exception. ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-80th-annual-academy-awards-thread/439026/248 "2008-02-25T13:51:01Z")
[QUOTE=ftg] I was really surprised that they showed such a late scene from _Michael Clayon_ for her clip. Talk about spoilers. [/QUOTE] I might be misremembering, but wasn’t that the clip of her talking with the title character about what to do with Arthur? Isn’t that within the first 30 minutes? I don’t remember it really illuminating a whole lot that will ruin the film and I just saw it for the first time on Friday night. ---
**Author:** ![HazelNutCoffee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ac91a4/32.png) [@HazelNutCoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HazelNutCoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-80th-annual-academy-awards-thread/439026/249 "2008-02-25T14:01:14Z")
[QUOTE=interface2x] I might be misremembering, but wasn’t that the clip of her talking with the title character about what to do with Arthur? Isn’t that within the first 30 minutes? I don’t remember it really illuminating a whole lot that will ruin the film and I just saw it for the first time on Friday night. [/QUOTE] I feel like somewhere along the way they showed a clip of the part where Clooney has the line, “Do I look like I’m negotiating?” ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-80th-annual-academy-awards-thread/439026/250 "2008-02-25T14:52:37Z")
I thought that line was to demonstrate Clooney’s skills, not Tilda’s. Could be wrong. I’ll look into those Coen movies (not real high on my list of priorities). Glad to know they have done some work that is not drenched in blood and anger. I liked Jon Stewart’s hosting. Why does he have to be funny all the time? Oscar night should not be at all similar to stand up. He was more like Johnny Carson last night, IMO: a few good jokes, mostly mild ones, but smooth, courteous control of the show. When he got Marketa back on stage for her thank yous–that was the high point of the show for me. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-80th-annual-academy-awards-thread/439026/251 "2008-02-25T15:56:32Z")
[QUOTE=HazelNutCoffee] I feel like somewhere along the way they showed a clip of the part where Clooney has the line, “Do I look like I’m negotiating?” [/QUOTE] That was Clooney’s clip during the Best Actor category. They showed that line in the trailers, though. I guess it is a spoiler, but if you haven’t seen the movie you don’t really know that and it isn’t obvious that it’s the climax of the film. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-80th-annual-academy-awards-thread/439026/252 "2008-02-25T16:26:47Z")
[QUOTE=ftg] I was really surprised that they showed such a late scene from _Michael Clayon_ for her clip. Talk about spoilers. [/QUOTE] That was nothing compared to them showing the car crash scene from _No Country For Old Men_. Way to spoil a out-of-left field moment for everyone who hasn;t seen it Oscar! ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-80th-annual-academy-awards-thread/439026/253 "2008-02-25T18:04:43Z")
[QUOTE=ftg] And you can’t really _give_ your Oscar to someone. It belongs to the Academy and you more or less are borrowing it. [/QUOTE] Not true. You can give it to anyone you want for any reason whatsoever. What you can’t do is sell it. There is a stipulation that the Academy has the right to first purchase for any Oscar that goes on sale, and they’ll only give you $1 for it. So yeah, she can give it to her agent. But he (or his heirs, etc.) can never sell it without AMPAS jumping in first. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2008, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-80th-annual-academy-awards-thread/439026/254 "2008-02-25T18:21:38Z")
[QUOTE=ArchiveGuy] Not true. You can give it to anyone you want for any reason whatsoever. What you can’t do is sell it. There is a stipulation that the Academy has the right to first purchase for any Oscar that goes on sale, and they’ll only give you $1 for it. So yeah, she can give it to her agent. But he (or his heirs, etc.) can never sell it without AMPAS jumping in first. [/QUOTE] But what’s to stop a cash-strapped Oscar winner from selling someone a handful of lint for say, 10 grand and throwing in the Oscar for free? t seems like it would be pretty easy to get around that. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-80th-annual-academy-awards-thread/439026/255 "2008-02-26T00:56:24Z")
Disabled World War II veteran, [Harold Russell](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Russell), winner of a best supporting actor Oscar for “The Best Years Of Our Lives” (1946) sold his Oscar in 1992 to a private collector to pay his wife’s medical bills. I remember at the time that the Academy wasn’t very happy about this but they didn’t force the issue. Maybe because 1. It was paying for medical bills. 2. He wasn’t a genuine Hollywood celebrity. (He made his _second_ film in 1980.) 3. The guy lost both hands in 1944 due to “_a defective fuse detonated an explosive he was handling while making a training film_”. (from the Wikipedia article referenced above). * * * Since people have been discussing “The Big Lebowski”, add my name to the list of fans for this movie. (Yes, it must be viewed many times to comprehend its cinematic perspicacity). ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2008, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-80th-annual-academy-awards-thread/439026/256 "2008-02-26T09:52:09Z")
[QUOTE=wolf\_meister] Disabled World War II veteran, [Harold Russell](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Russell), winner of a best supporting actor Oscar for “The Best Years Of Our Lives” (1946) sold his Oscar in 1992 to a private collector to pay his wife’s medical bills. I remember at the time that the Academy wasn’t very happy about this but they didn’t force the issue. Maybe because 1. It was paying for medical bills. 2. He wasn’t a genuine Hollywood celebrity. (He made his _second_ film in 1980.) 3. The guy lost both hands in 1944 due to “_a defective fuse detonated an explosive he was handling while making a training film_”. (from the Wikipedia article referenced above). [/QUOTE] Actually, they _tried_, but there was very little they could do as he was awarded his _before_ you had to sign an agreement saying that you’d “sell” the statue back to them. The Academy offered him several thousand dollars for it (I forget the exact amount), but he turned them down, believing (correctly, as it turned out) that it would bring more money at auction. ---
**Author:** ![wolf\_meister](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf_meister/32/15202_2.png) [@wolf\_meister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolf_meister)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-80th-annual-academy-awards-thread/439026/257 "2008-02-27T07:46:46Z")
**Tuckerfan** Thanks for the additional information. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-80th-annual-academy-awards-thread/439026/258 "2008-02-27T15:56:10Z")
Yeah, thanks Tuckerfan. I didn’t stipulate that the contractual component I mentioned was begun in 1950, after Harold Russell won his (although in fact, Russell won 2–an Honorary Oscar and the Supporting award; that probably made it easier selling one). Periodically, a pre-agreement Oscar will go up on auction, and the AMPAS will do their best to disuade the seller to follow through with the sale, or in some instances, [make whatever legal maneuvers they can.](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3089093.stm) But usually, they cross their fingers and hope [someone else will intervene.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0030287/news) ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2008, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-80th-annual-academy-awards-thread/439026/259 "2008-02-27T18:53:08Z")
[QUOTE=Tuckerfan] Actually, they _tried_, but there was very little they could do as he was awarded his _before_ you had to sign an agreement saying that you’d “sell” the statue back to them. [/QUOTE] Let’s say I’m Daniel Day-Lewis, and I know I’m far and away the frontrunner for the award, and I tell the Academy to go hang when they show up with the form. What are they going to do, not give me the award? ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2008, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-80th-annual-academy-awards-thread/439026/260 "2008-02-28T11:15:57Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] Let’s say I’m Daniel Day-Lewis, and I know I’m far and away the frontrunner for the award, and I tell the Academy to go hang when they show up with the form. What are they going to do, not give me the award? [/QUOTE] Good question. I know at the Grammy’s the awards the actors are handed on stage are props, with them being given the real one backstage after they walk off. Whoopi Goldberg apparently didn’t understand this and _insisted_ on keeping the prop statue, and the folks who do the Grammy’s _haven’t_ bothered to sue her to get it back. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-80th-annual-academy-awards-thread/439026.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-the-80th-annual-academy-awards-thread/439026.md?page=14)