Just when I thought Philip Seymour Hoffman couldn't be any more annoying of an actor, he goes and super-double-gays it up to play Capote.

Seriously, this guy has played the same predictable, effete character in every movie he's ever been in, from "Flawless" to "Boogie Nights" to "The Talented Mr. Ripley". He even inexplicably played cliche-gay when I saw him in the Circle on the Square (Broadway) production of "True West" with John C. Reilly (a man, in contrast, who can actually act). Sweet how he thanked his mom in his acceptance speech, sure, but why can't he ever be that real and honest, you know, when he's supposed to be playing a part?

Did anybody else find it ironic that "Hard Out Here For a Pimp" won the Best Song Oscar? I mean, it's a song sung mostly by a woman about how hard it is for men who subjugate women to survive. And all this after the opening brouhaha over how out of touch with middle America Hollywood is and how Clooney is proud to be "out of touch" if it means, essentially, being liberal.

I guess Hollywood is only liberal when it comes to creating caricatured gay characters, rightly opposing the military industrial complex or superficially examining race issues with storylines that are too conveniently silly to be taken seriously.

But when it comes to the rights or the autonomy of women, Hollywood is still tragically in the dark ages. Did anybody really expect "North Country" to win anything?

I really didn't have many picks going into tonight. I just had a few nominees that I felt didn't deserve to win and two of them did anyway. I'm not saying Heath Ledger should have beat Hoffman or "Brokeback Mountain" should have beat "Crash" - any of the other nominees in either category would have suited me just fine - but I will say that Ledger does deserve something for his performance.

While I hate the buzz surrounding it coming from the queer community (for the last time, his character IS NOT A GAY COWBOY, HE'S A COWBOY WHO IS STRAIGHT AND HAPPENS TO HAVE SEX WITH ONE MAN), he mastered the art and craft of acting when creating the character of Ennis Del Mar far better than Hoffman did for mimicking a real person.

Have I mentioned how much Philip Seymour Hoffman makes my skin crawl? Really, the Academy be damned, he's just a bad actor. He has absolutely no range, unless you consider from 'irritating' to 'more irritating' a range.

On the other hand, Reese Witherspoon was adorable and gracious and everything she always is. And she can act. Sometimes not very well - she's inconsistent - but she's getting better with each performance.

Rachel Weisz was glowing. I assume her win was well-earned. I'm honestly not familiar with her work.

Clooney was Clooney. And he worked hard this year. He deserved to walk away with something.

I think Jon Stewart did a fair job hosting. He seemed like he was holding back, trapped behind that Plexiglas podium. Maybe he just couldn't break free of the format with which he's familiar. His recent predecessors have given much bigger performances. I have to say I'm disappointed in what he delivered. The jokes were funny, but they were TV jokes, not movie blockbuster jokes. One-liners don't cut it when you're the host of the Oscars, unless you're Bob Hope. And there's a pretty solid chance HE won't be hosting again anytime soon.

All told, I'm pretty disappointed in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. It's a good thing I switched out of my film major in college when I did.