A few Oscar thoughts:

1) OK, it is nice to be right. This year, I predicted nine categories -- picture, director, scripts (2), acting (four) and animated feature -- and got them all.

2) Still, it would have been nice to have more fun watching the show. There were some clever filmed bits, but other laughs were sparse.

3) The biggest problems were the acceptance speeches. Mostly, they were just lists of names.

As the Academy Award nominations came out this morning, there was some extra-good news: "Winter's Bone" got nominations for best picture, actress (Jennifer Lawrence), supporting actor and adapted script.

The new Academy Award hosts were announced today. The decision was ... well, flat-out, totally wrong.

Chosen were James Franco and Anne Hathaway.They are "the next generation of Hollywood icons," producers said.

In short, the show is going for youth, at all costs.

Now, I like youth as much as anyone. When it comes to cheerleaders, beaches, cornerbacks, modern dancers and Victoria's Secret models, I find youth to be very admirable.

During the Oscars, I'm going to throw out some comments; please add yours. And keep in mind that these are chronological and random:

1) The bar was set pretty low, but Jess Cagle managed to get under it. He's now officially the most obsequious host in red-carpet history.  Working ABC's half-hour premiere (in which Kathy Ireland wasn't much better), he felt compelled to tell us that the every person and every gown was wonderful. If Uriah Heep (the Dickens character, not the rock group) saw this, he'd say: "Can't you toughen up a bit?"

It's been a fun night, watching the Academy Awards. Here are some of my comments, as the show goes on:

-- Good news: Baz Luhrmann created that spectacular number, celebrating the return of the movie musical. Luhrmann's touch -- in "Moulin Rouge," "Romeo and Juliet," "Australia" and more -- is masterful. This was a grand moment.

-- Bad news: Five presenters for one awards? That's approximately four too many.