Little Golden Men

Unless you've been living under a rock, you know that the Academy Awards were last night and you also have probably heard that No Country for Old Men is the single greatest movie ever made. Well, I still haven't seen it and the bits of the Oscars that I did watch were pretty boring, so what gives?

First of all - the clothes. Where were the Bjorks? The Chers? Aside from Diablo Cody (the screenwriter for Juno who I just found out is a woman, I blame 4 years of high school Spanish for my faux pas) whose outfit channeled Bettie Page and Pebbles Flintstone and Tilda Swinton whose one-armed black frock looked like she got it from the Ruth Bader Ginsberg collection for JC Penney - there weren't too many god-awful garments to bash.

Most of the gals played it safe in truly redundant red or black gowns and somewhere the makers of strapless bras are incredibly rich. Also am I the only one who thought Katherine Heigl looked like a dead ringer for Samantha Jones on Sex and the City? The hair, the tan, the smile, the dress, the attitude - I kept waiting for her to drop a c-bomb or for Smith Jerrod to show up.

Now, a few questions for the Academy voters. Where are my American actors at? Oscars for the four acting categories were all nabbed by foreigners... Daniel Day-Lewis (Brit), Tilda Swinton (Scottish), Marion Cotillard (French) and Javier Bardem (Spanish). Come on Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman - step up your game!

And where are my people of color? Last year we gushed over Jennifer Hudson, Forest Whitaker, Djimon Hounsou, Will Smith, Penelope Cruz, Adriana Barraza, Rinko Kikuchi and Eddie Murphy. A few years back it was Hallie Berry and Denzel Washington finally rectifying years of the Academy failing to acknowledge the contributions of black actors (not to mention Latino or Asian).

In 2008, only one person of color was even nominated for an acting honor - Ruby Dee as Best Supporting Actress in American Gangster. And no women or people of color helmed the Best Picture or were nominated as Best Director.

Sure, every Oscar celebration and the road to that little gold man is different. Sometimes trends emerge as in the case of last year's Spanish invasion and the glut of biopics and news event adaptations that sprouted up in 2006. All I ask is that the Academy start thinking outside the box. Mix it up a little. Take risks. And that goes for the dresses too.