Now on top of the clipfest about writers and foreign films, now we have a cavalcade of snippets about America stitched together by Michael Mann. In another couple of minutes I believe we’ll have a montage of great moments from the earlier montages. Can’t we have a little more excitement in this program? Let’s pick up the pace, people.

When I saw Isla Fisher in full-length emerald with a distinctive belt, I thought–it has to be Lhuillier. This just in: It is! So pretty, not even Borat (her fiance Sacha Baron Cohen) can mock. Also in Lhuillier: Giuliana DePandi (!) and Kristen Bell.

Don’t take our word for it. Vote in our online poll. Sorry about all of the nominees we left off. This poll will surely have more drama than the actual awards show.

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The pressure is mounting on Ellen DeGeneres. We’re three hours into the show, and the only surprise - Alan Arkin’s award - came early. Since then, the show has been slipping slowly but surely into snoozeland. Granted, the host doesn’t have any control over the predictability of the awards. But like sports play-by-play announcers who get stuck covering a game that turns into a blow out, it’s still her job to make it interesting. This thing needs some energy, creativity and flamboyance. Either that, or we need No Doz.

They couldn’t help it. Beyonce and Jennifer Hudson both changed dresses into red gowns. Then Anika Noni Rose got into the scarlet dress game too. How very Destiny’s Child to have dresses in the same color family. Ahhhh…

Academy president Sid Ganis races through a presentation explaining the goals and history of the organization in one minute flat, thanks to the miracle of speeded-up speech compression. How many jokes about uppers are being made in Hollywood at this moment? Michael Arndt collects the best original screenplay trophy for “Little Miss Sunshine.” He tells us that when he was a kid his family took a road trip to California just like the one in the film. This is a surprise to me. I thought it was just a loose rewrite of “National Lampoon’s Vacation.”