JPod, in fairness I thought the montage of montages from previous Oscar ceremonies was excellent. The one-second clip of Debra Winger introducing a three-second clip of Deborah Kerr from the best montages of the 1984 Academy Awards segueing into the two-second clip of George Segal introducing a four-second clip of George C Scott from the best montages of the 1973 Academy Awards was extremely well done. I particularly liked the introductory speech read by Dustin Hoffman in which he said in an expressionless voice that “in our montages we affirm the diversity of our art”, followed by Susan Sarandon intoning that “we make montages because we create to share and we share to create”. Al Gore’s observation that from space the planet itself looks like one giant montage – it seems to take all day and just when you think it’s over the same bits come round all over again – was almost unbearably profound.

Incidentally, I believe Al’s Ralph Lauren suit was in fact a montage of previous Oscar winners’ suits.