GRADING THE SPEECHES.Byline: - Glenn Whipp It was a little hard to concentrate on what they were saying, what with that annoying, white-noise orchestral music playing under everything ... but here's the skinny on the performances from the podium. GEORGE CLOONEY George Timothy Clooney (May 6, 1961) is an American actor, director, producer and screenwriter who gained fame as the lead doctor in the long-running television drama, ER Self-effacing as always (dug the ``All right, so I'm not winning director'' opening line), Clooney was gracious, though a tad smug. Yes, the academy gave Hattie McDaniel Hattie McDaniel (June 10, 1895 – October 26, 1952) was an American actress and the first black performer to win an Academy Award. She won the award for Best Supporting Actress for her role of Mammy in Gone with the Wind (1939). an Oscar in 1939. The next black winner? An honorary Oscar for the guy who played Uncle Remus in Disney's ``Song of the South.'' It took 24 years for another black to win an acting award (Sidney Poitier) and another 20 years for another black actor to win (Louis Gossett Jr.). So hold the self-congratulatory talk about a progressive academy, OK? B JORDAN HOUSTON, CEDRIC CEDRIC UK Customs & Excise Intelligence Computer Data System COLEMAN AND PAUL BEAUREGARD Whassup, academy? Fantastic if only for its freshness, spontaneity, incongruity in·con·gru·i·ty n. pl. in·con·gru·i·ties 1. Lack of congruence. 2. The state or quality of being incongruous. 3. Something incongruous. Noun 1. and bleepability, and the fact that these were the first Oscar winners to take the stage wearing throwback throwback see atavism. jerseys, sneakers sneakers Noun, pl US, Canad, Austral & NZ canvas shoes with rubber soles sneakers npl (US) → zapatos mpl de lona; zapatillas fpl and bling-studded teeth. And the best song winner prompted the best line of the night from host Jon Stewart, ``I think it just got a little easier out here for a pimp.'' B PHILIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN For other persons named Philip Hoffman, see Philip Hoffman (disambiguation). Philip Seymour Hoffman (born July 23, 1967) is an Academy Award-winning American actor. Biography Early life Hoffman was born in Fairport, New York to Gordon S. Name-checks mom, other nominees, Van Morrison. Really, really loves ``Capote'' filmmakers. Fails to make good on promise to David Letterman to bark like a dog during his entire speech. C REESE WITHERSPOON Sports the biggest thank-you list of any winner, but tedium alleviated by her radiance and the heartfelt shout-out to Mom and Dad. ``It didn't matter if I was making a bed or making a movie, they never hesitated to tell me how proud they were of me,'' she said. B- PAUL HAGGIS AND BOBBY MORESCO Winners for original screenplay for ``Crash,'' Haggis (who won another Oscar as one of the film's producers) nervously thanked supporters and applauded people who silently stand up for peace and justice. Moresco? Well, we'll never know because the show's producers never let him speak. All we saw was Charlize Theron's jaw hit the floor, reacting to this classless class·less adj. 1. Lacking social or economic distinctions of class: a classless society. 2. Belonging to no particular social or economic class. bit of timekeeping. B- NICK PARK AND STEVE BOX We don't really remember anything the ``Wallace & Gromit'' filmmakers said, but we loved their striped bow ties and the matching neck wear they fastened on their Oscars. B CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Reese Witherspoon gets a B-minus for her long, emotional speech, which featured lengthy thanks to her parents: ``It didn't matter if I was making a bed or making a movie, they never hesitated to tell me how proud they were of me.'' John McCoy/Staff Photographer |
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