They gave three Oscars, including the big one, to 12 Years a Slave (was it close? We’ll never know, and that’s appropriate), and three more to an uneven movie that pokes and prods at the early years of the AIDS crisis, and another to a fine documentary about how the music industry has treated African American women, and two more to a delightful cartoon musical about the whitest people on earth, and seven to an expression of powerhouse Hollywood-studio wizardry that was actually made by a Mexican director in England. They surprised many (and delighted me) by handing Best Original Screenplay to Spike Jonze for the delicate and beautiful Her, and after bestowing a combined 31 nominations on American Hustle, Captain Phillips, Nebraska,Philomena, and The Wolf of Wall Street, they bestowed a total of zero awards on those movies. That’s two fewer than The Great Gatsby won. In other words, “they” had good taste, bad taste, and everything in between.

That's great analysis. Also:

1. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie each won Oscars.

2. Leonardo Dicaprio was once again snubbed.

3. Accents galore between director of 12 Years, director of Gravity, best actress, best supporting actress, and Mr Alright Alright Alright. Truly an international affair this year.

4. Which was the bigger Ellen Degeneres stunt: selfie or pizza? It was either brilliant or pedestrian depending on who you asked.

P.S. LOL that Frozen is about the two whitest people on earth.

Bigger stunt?  The tweeted selfie.  This was the perfect window:  common enough but still novel (believe it or not!) to a large enough percentage of viewers.  Meryl Streep exclaimed, "This is my first tweet!"  Next year it will be passe; last year it was too new.  Ellen really exploited the moment.

You're right. 3 million retweets. Unbelievable!

P.S.  Was rooting for Jonah Hill for Best Supporting.  I predict Mr. DiCaprio and Mr. Scorsese will take a hiatus from each other.

It's like the academy collectively decided to snub Wolf of Wall Street.

I haven't seen Dallas Buyers Club but apparently Jared Leto and Matthew McConaughey are AMAZING.

I haven't seen Dallas Buyers Club yet either.  I need to.  I thought 12 Years a Slave was wonderfully done and well acted, though it was so heart-wrenching, that I doubt I will ever see it again.  I honestly wasn't a huge fan of American Hustle or the Wolf of Wall Street.  I think maybe with all the buzz, my expectations were too high, and then I ended up disappointed!

Patricia, it helps to lower your expectations when it comes to most movies. Sometimes a movie will surprise me with how good it is (LEGO Movie and Frozen being two examples) but usually I'm disappointed unless I'm expecting the movie to be average.

American Hustle and Wolf of Wall Street were good, but neither of them are BEST picture.

I hear that Dallas Buyers Club is good -- I have not seen it yet either -- but it is also heart-wrenching so prepare for emotional feels!

And Gravity was an amazing piece of filmmaking although I wonder if it loses some of its magic on a small screen.