What I'm Really Looking Forward to at this Year's Oscars

I'm a big movie buff, have been since before I turned 10, and I haven't missed an Academy Awards broadcast in all that time. So I'm always excited to see the Oscar nominations come out. As it happens, I've seen all five Best Picture nominees this year, as well as many of the nominees in the other categories. It's a good year--I enjoyed all five BP noms, so I won't be yelling at the TV screen this year the way I did last year when Million Dollar Baby beat Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. (For the record, I liked Munich best of the five BPs, but I'm still sort of holding out for Brokeback Mountain, just because I'm from Massachusetts and damn it, I think we helped change the tone of the national conversation on this issue.)

But what I'm really looking forward to this year is the Best Song category. The nominators couldn't come up with a full five choices this year--showing how weak this area has become--but let's face it: Aren't you just dying to see how Debbie Allen or Kelly Clarkson or Clay Aiken or somebody performs "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" from Hustle and Flow? I can't wait to see how they pull this one off with a straight face. I know I'll be watching.