"hey, laaaaady!" jerry lewis finally gets an oscar!

this cartoon graces the front page of sunday's ny times' arts and leisure section. the cover story, "hey laaaaay!" is an interesting, pulls-no-punches, critcial look at jerry lewis on the day the academy will award him the jean hersholt humanitarian award.

as a huge fan of jerry lewis (and dean martin) i even re-read his short memoir, "dean and me (a love story)," when i read the news.

so it should come as no surprise that this was my favorite moment at the oscars last night. introduced by eddie murphy, here is jerry lewis accepting the award:



another bright spot: "man on wire" won best documentary, following up it's win at the independent spirit awards the night before.

if there was a disappointment? mickey rourke and melissa leo didn't win (as they had at the independent spirit awards) for best actor and actress, respectively :(

2009 independent spirit awards

today's independent spirit awards were the last chance to gauge oscar (tomorrow night) chances for the nominees. while best feature film award went to "the wrestler" - it was mickey rourke's acceptance speech for best actor that really made the broadcast! before he even mentioned his own work, or gave any thanks, he made and over the top plea to get eric roberts a role (after a 15 year dry spell).



i'm pulling for mickey rourke to win best actor tomorrow night. the only similar comeback i can think of (in relatively recent history) by an down and out (at the time) actor was john travolta's incredible performance in "pulp fiction!"

in other spirit award wins (for the films i've seen), melissa leo took best actress for her awesome performance in "frozen river." best documentary went to "man on wire" - a spellbinding look at what it took to walk across a tightrope strung between the twin towers. best director went to tom mccarthy for "the visitor." best foreign film went to "the class" (which pat went to see last weekend, and gave it high marks).

here's a bit more coverage from the ny times.

next up for me is a long delayed trip to the theater to finally watch "the wrestler."

update: no oscars for mickey roarke or melissa leo (but, "man on wire" won for best documentary).