As Links Go By

The Front Row Richard Brody on Oscar surprises and the health of quality movies.
Towleroad Why did the Oscar broadcast censor the Josh Brolin Javier Bardem kiss?
Getty Images The Bening is ready to dance. But first she'll politely pose for photos.

Reuters Anjelica Huston is writing memoirs. Everyone wants Jack Nicholson dirt but I'm hoping for a good juicy chapter on The Grifters or The Royal Tenenbaums.
Nicks Flick Picks on how this year's Oscar winners will be treated in the judgement all of Time Passing By
Carpetbagger Carr reacts to the ceremony. Love the sum up sentence. So true.
Monkey See 5 Lessons learned from the Oscars Sunday night. Lurve this one.

(4) Australians don't care about your stupid alphabetical order. When the nominees for Best Supporting Actress were announced, Aussie Jacki Weaver was named third, even though she was alphabetically fifth in the category. Take that, Melissa Leo! You might have the Oscar, but Jacki Weaver controls language!

The Wrap the Annie Awards are officially considering changes post Disney/Pixar boycott and the shutouts of WALL•E & Toy Story 3

I Dream of Deany

The flu and Oscar-frazzled headspace are a strange combination. I've been drifting in and out of consciousness since coming down with it abruptly 20+ hours ago. I woke up via a radio alarm recently and the voices were talking about the financial crisis.

My dream converted this to a bizarro panel of angry politicians, refusing to take blame. The culprit was obviously Derek Cianfrance, writer/director of Blue Valentine. His "extravagant spending on Blue Valentine has bankrupted the nation!" 

Ha ha. WTF? Blue Valentine... that blockbuster so intimidatingly expensive that even James Cameron passed?

Subconcious brain you are so weird.

Blue Valentine was the most movie bang for production buck of anything the cinema gave us last year. If I weren't sick I'd throw 'The Ballad of Cindy & Dean' right back in the DVD player for a third go. Years from now nobody will ever understand how Ryan Gosling wasn't Oscar nominated alongside Michelle Williams. You gotta have the whole set, Cindy and Dean.

Love that movie!

Best Actress Finale: Dresses, Reactions, Questions

Like we did with supporting actress, I've displayed the most lauded ladies of 2010 in the order of your preference: Natalie Portman stabbed all competition with a nail file "IT'S MY TURN" to the tune of 47% of your votes; Annette Bening (19%) just barely edged out Nicole Kidman (18%) in the last day of voting for second place and second place is always where Bening seems to end up (more on that tomorrow); Michelle Williams (11%) and Jennifer Lawrence (2%) followed. But look at Lawrence. She doesn't care. She had a grand time at the Oscars apparently, turning heads in the red tank dress and relaxed enough to quip to the press about bringing her brother as her date.

I'm from Kentucky, so that's normal.

It's interesting that her distinction  "Second Youngest Best Actress Nominee Ever" has been so ignored by the media; She's only 20. We might be seeing a lot more of her on Oscar's red carpet. She's already too old to nab the "fastest to two nominations in any acting category" since Angela Lansbury was 20 when she accomplished that. But theoretically Lawrence could still beat Joan Fontaine's record of fastest to two Best Actress nominations (Fontaine did the double by 24 and won) if good lead roles come soon. Up next are three supporting roles: The Beaver, Like Crazy and X-Men First Class.

Reaction shots, questions for readers and Portman's speech after the jump.

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Curio: Oscar Sweets

Alexa here.  Even though I can't claim to have been eating steamed veggies and following the Tracy Andeson method for the last few months, I always use Oscar night as an excuse to indulge. I made these coconut shortbread Black Swan pops for our gathering this year.  (And yes, I appreciate the irony of indulging my sweet tooth by eating stick-thin prima ballerinas.)

I'm always curious what other Oscar goodies were served, so I've been trolling the internet.

More sweets after the jump

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February Wraps. What's Coming in March?

February may be the shortest month of the year but due to Oscar night, it's the longest for us. If you don't visit the site regularly in the Off-Oscar season I urge you to reconsider. We have a lot of fun with a much rangier selection of movies from March thru November. I can't be the only one who is worn out by the Big Ten. Nevertheless, I don't mean to gripe about the Oscars. That's a knee jerk response born from fatigue. In a month or two (or maybe even a week's time) we'll miss his shiny golden ass. Oh, you know we will!

Some highlights of posting this month in case you missed them.

• James and Anne vs. The World it's weird to look at this now that we've seen them do their thang. Or now that we've seen Anne try to do her thing while James stood there.
• The Oscar Short Films Michael wrote up all 15 shorts. These posts had staying power as more of you checked out the nominees. I think the added exposure of these categories over the past few years (thanks to YouTube and iTunes) is one of the best Oscar developments.
• X-Men First Class the mutant team's superhold on my childhood
• Interviews! We gabbed with nominated craftsmen from The King's Speech and True Grit as well as the Oscar winning editors of The Social Network.
• Bright Star. Love's Cool Breeze Kurtis on a swoony underappreciated gift from 2009
• 30 Seconds to Summer it was fun to step away from the prestige films and move over to the boom boom whiz bang of coming blockbusters. They're just around the corner.
• My First (Three) Deans JA finally drank the James Dean Kool-aid. 
• And finally a round of applause for TFE's contributors. The Podcast has been an incepted dream BRAAAAHHHHHHHM with Nick, Katey and Joe. Our Oscar Podcast wrap up comes this Sunday. And I always enjoy Robert's Distant Relatives , Andreas new Mix Tape and Alexa's Curios because it's the only times I get to be surprised by what shows up on the site. Well done.

COMING IN MARCH...

We'll wrap up Oscar (Podcast!) and the Film Bitch Awards this week.

Then... A NEW FILM YEAR. I've designated March as Reader Appreciation Month. There will also be a Tennessee Williams Centennial "Stellllllaaaaaaaaaaaa", dispatches from New Directors/New Films,  the return of Hit Me With Your Best Shot, and more. Please stick around. There's more to life than Oscar.

P.S. I'm suddenly violently ill. At least the flu politely waited for Oscar night to pass. Thank you, flu!