Few surprises at Oscars, but here's 5

^
Pretty anticlimactic Oscar night, huh? The King's Speech wasn't my favorite film of the year (The Kids Are All Right was), but it was good. And it certainly was the classic film for the Academy to be ga-ga about: historically significant, wonderfully acted and British. So that it won best picture was no surprise at all -- keeping with the night's theme.

The 5 Oscar surprises, according to this observer:

5. Geoffrey Rush -- the single best part about The King's Speech -- was one of the few nominees associated with the film who somehow managed not to win.

4. I didn't expect James Franco to be Billy Crystal or Jon Stewart, but I did expect him to read cue cards without seeming petrified and/or disinterested. I can't remember a less engaging host. Of course, the writers did him and co-host Anne Hathaway no favors at all. Aside from Franco's Charlie Sheen joke (while dressed in drag), the hosts were given precious little to work with.

3. Scarlett Johansson's hairdresser did the impossible: make her look less than beautiful.

2. Melissa Leo barely blinked after casually dropping the f-bomb. There goes her invitation to appear on Sesame Street.

1. The main highlights were provided by 94-year-old stroke victim Kirk Douglas (incredibly charming as presenter of best supporting actress) and a chorus of Staten Island 5th graders (wrapping up the proceedings with "Somewhere Over the Rainbow") . Gotta admit: I didn't see those coming.
^