Hey, guys. Sorry that the comic is late. But after live-blogging the Oscars last night, I sat down to work on today’s comic and started feeling terrible. I was light-headed and started seeing flashcubes like a migraine was coming on. I decided to rack out early to prevent totally wrecking myself.

I woke up this morning still not 100%, but functional. I went to work thinking I could plow through it before working on the comic over my lunch hour. I didn’t make it. I felt so terrible, I had to leave work early to go home and rest.

I thought I could still salvage today’s comic this evening before I realized that I left all of my drawing materials at my desk. So, even though I’m feeling better now, there’s no comic today. Just this Oscar roundup.

I’m not happy. This is the second deadline I’ve blown in a week and there’s no excuse for it except maybe “Real Life” is starting to catch up with me. It sucks not to have a comic ready after the biggest night in movies all year. At the very least, I hope you enjoy this recap.

Anyway, my apologies again. Thank you for your patience and understanding.

So, as we know, the Oscars were last night. For me, they were a wildly uneven affair. I thought co-hosts Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were curiously M.I.A. considering how much ABC pushed them forward as a comedy duo unlike any other in their advertising. Having Neil Patrick Harris open the show with a bombastic music number – while entertaining – seemed out of place, as well. Shouldn’t – y’know – the hosts open the show?

I feel like I don’t have a lot to say about the winners themselves. There weren’t really a lot of upsets last night. There was a bit of a question mark hanging over whether or not The Hurt Locker or Avatar would take Best Picture, but I think The Hurt Locker set the tone for the show early on by snagging awards for Best Sound, Best Sound Editing and Best Original Screenplay. When they picked up the award for Best Editing later in the night, I knew it was in the bag. Films that win Best Editing usually end up winning Best Picture.

It was certainly a triumph to see Kathryn Bigelow win Best Director. She looked positively gobsmacked when she emerged on stage moments later to claim her award for Best Picture. Considering her ex-husband was James Cameron, the reward must have been that much sweeter.

It’s easy to be excited for Bigelow considering this historical context of her win as the first female director to be recognized by the Academy in this way. But among the other major categories, I can’t muster up much enthusiasm.

Jeff Bridges winning Best Actor for Crazy Heart was expected and long-deserved. Christoph Waltz winning Best Supporting Actor for Inglourious Basterds has been sewn up since last summer. Same for Mo’Nique winning Best Supporting Actress for Precious.

I don’t if you can say that Sandra Bullock was the most deserving for her Best Actress win in The Blind Side. I felt like the Academy was maybe responding more to the box office success of that film than her performance in particular. When Bullock asked “Did I really earn this, or did I wear you all down?” I bristled. Because it implies that she’s been giving great performances for years and has been overlooked. I know she was making an attempt at humor, but when compared to Jeff Bridges who actually HAS been delivering excellent performances for years and had been overlooked, it seemed shallow.

That said, I thought she gave the best, most emotional speech of the night. She really is America’s Sweetheart. It’s hard to hate her. She’s just been stuck in so many ridiculous romantic comedies over the years, its difficult to imagine her in another context. Hopefully her win last night will afford her the opportunity to be a little more selective with her roles. I mean, what other actor wins a Razzie and an Oscar in the same weekend?

Something that stuck out to me last night was the lack of musical performances for the compositions nominated in the Best Original Song category. Cami figured out that the reason why was because they needed the extra time to introduce each of the 10 Best Picture nominees over the course of the evening.

The economy of time made sense to me until we reached the the Best Original Score category late in the show. At first I was confused when a phalanx of dancers performed flips and high kicks to the score for Sherlock Holmes. But I was positively enraged when one of the dancers inexplicably started doing THE ROBOT to Michael Giacchino’s score for Up.

Giacchino’s score was the heart of Up and a well-deserved win for the composer last night. “Ellie’s Theme” not only serves as the centerpiece that plays behind the “Married Life” montage that emotionally devastated so many of us, but Giacchino expertly weaves it through the rest of the score. So any callback to that piece immediately takes us back to that moment in the film and connects the dots between the motivations behind Carl’s journey and the emotions he’s trying to bury. Having a guy dance THE ROBOT to this music seemed beyond offensive to me.

I mean, I don’t typically get this worked up over the Best Original Score category, but the dancing was by far the tackiest and most jarring piece of an off-balance telecast. If you want someone to blame, point your finger at show producer Adam Shankman. Who, shockingly, is also a judge on So You Think You Can Dance. Ugh. Let’s hope that Shankman isn’t invited to produce next year.

At this point, I feel like if I say any more about the Oscars, I’ll start talking in circles. So why don’t you let me know what you thought of the show and the winners. Leave your comments below and we’ll get a conversation started!