My Final Word on The Oscars

This was not a good year for Oscar. One of the most boring, lifeless awards races in memory. When rank Hollywood nostalgia got in the way of honouring the great work of 2011. Oscar is 84 this year, and he risks irrelevancy now more than ever.

Giving their top prize to The Artist over a movie like Hugo was laughably bad. Hugo does everything The Artist does (and more) by celebrating a bygone era while hurtling towards the possibility of innovation like the train it depicts.

Won Oscar. Looks like an Oscar.

Viola Davis was robbed. The award would've made her the 2nd African American to ever win Best Actress. Meryl Streep won her third award for a "fun house mirror" performance in the Margaret Thatcher movie! A movie worse and more offensive than The Help. They showed off their true colours; all white. It was repulsive.

Sorry to have to evoke the train wreck that was last year. Remember last year? The awards show that tried to win over youth with its choice of hosts, but then insisted on giving us all a history lesson about past Best Picture winners. Yeah, that one. At least this year wasn't like last year. Now they're just replaying their greatest hit, Billy Crystal, in a comeback special that made the show watchable.

Sure, it wasn't all bad. Hugo dominated in the technical categories stealing some of The Artist's thunder along the way. Bret McKenzie won, and then didn't embarrass the nation with his acceptance speech. Christopher Plummer and Octavia Spencer won. The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo upset in editing.

It's that this year, more than any years, made me take pause. I know many of you stopped caring about the Oscars long ago, but this year tested the patience of even its most dedicated observers. It's what The Artist win represents, Hollywood is trying desperately to relive its past, and it's making no attempt at survival.

I killed it on my ballot though. I predicted 19/24 categories. Tiny triumph.