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As I'm sure everyone knows, the Academy Awards were given out last night, but I've been ordered not to spoil anything here by my colleague Caillan, who had to avoid news this morning until the Australian press caught up with airing the highlights. Oscar night usually means that myself and at least one of my girlfriends will spend the evening in front of the television, laughing as celebrity interviewers fawn over, attempt to explain or scoff at the clothing, jewelry and attitudes of movie stars. There are few more cheesy displays of Hollywood superficiality than the Oscar pre-show, which makes it great fun to sit and watch.

All the experts have seemed quite certain that The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King was going to waltz off with Best Picture, which is fine with me because as far as I'm concerned, The Fellowship of the Ring should have won two years ago. People very rarely win Oscars for the movie in which they deserve to win. The supporting actor awards tend to be used either as best newcomer or lifetime achievement awards, the main actor awards tend to be lifetime achievement awards or rewards for carrying films that earned a lot of money or attention for a lot of other people (writers, directors, studios), and I can't remember the last time I thought the best director had actually directed the best movie I saw that year.

Last night I rooted for LOTR:ROTK to get its due, but was pulling for Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World in all the technical categories in which it was not in direct competition with the frontrunner, because it was the best film I saw in 2003 even if it might not knock aside the weight of the entire trilogy. And I truly didn't care which Peter won for Best Director; Weir is long overdue, and wonderful as I thought LOTR:ROTK was, I've thought that each of the three movies in the trilogy was slightly inferior to the one before it. Much of this has to do with my bias for subtlety and character work rather than special effects, which I realize is a personal preference and that genre movies are rarely given their due. But if The Matrix wasn't rewarded at the directorial level for the way it transformed Hollywood's approach to visual effects, I don't know what will be.

Talk CSI Today

Below are some of the topics currently being discussed at Talk CSI:

-Predictions for Grissom and Sara?

-Favorite CSI Character Showdown!

-Now that sweeps month is over, let's talk about it!

More topics can be found at Talk CSI!

Poll Results

Below are the results of the most recent CSI Files poll:

How would you rate 'Getting Off'? 9-10 47.3% - (54 Votes) 7-8 20.1% - (23 Votes) 5-6 11.4% - (13 Votes) 3-4 7.8% - (9 Votes) 1-2 7.8% - (9 Votes) Wasn't able to see it 5.2% - (6 Votes) Didn't want to see it 0% - (0 Votes) Total Votes: 114

Please vote in our new poll on tonight's episode of CSI: Miami!

This Week's Television Listings

• Tonight at 10:00 p.m. Eastern Time, CBS will show "Money For Nothing" on CSI Miami. Here is the official synopsis of the episode:

  Horatio is quick on the scene when an armored truck carrying more than $3 million is robbed in a daring downtown heist. During the holdup, the driver is killed and Horatio guns down one of the two thieves. The other escapes with the loot, but the money turns out to be less than everyone thought. Making the day even worse for Horatio, Yelina spies him with his niece and assumes the girl is his illegitimate child, not her own late husband's daughter.

• Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time, CBS will show rerun the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode, "Grissom Versus The Volcano". The official synopsis states:

  Grissom visits a small Nevada town to investigate the death of a man whose severed head was found by a dog in some nearby woods; and Catherine receives an unexpected and unwelcome gift from her dad, which prompts her to visit him.

• Friday night at 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time, Spike TV will show the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode "Blood Lust". The official synopsis states:

  Distracted by an attractive passenger, an Indian taxi driver feels his cab strike something at a suburban intersection. When he gets out to check, he finds a teenage boy pinned beneath the left rear tire, apparently killed on impact. The cabbie jumps back into the taxi to call for help, but a mob of angry onlookers - all of them white - drags him out and beats him for the crime. When Grissom arrives on the scene, he discovers that the teen has been eviscerated and has stab wounds, but shows no signs of having been struck by the cab.

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