“My friend Jim is more interested in the Academy than anyone I know who isn’t involved in the industry. (He’s a chauffeur in Seattle.) By early summer he’s already talking up possible nominees. The discussion reaches a fever pitch in November and December when the prestige pictures are rolled out and critics make their ‘best of’ announcements. He goes to see these films. He talks about them. He actually cares. Not anymore. Crash‘s win did him in. The Academy, he said afterwards, ‘is not a serious body of voters who vote rationally. If they’re influenced by a DVD sales pitch, they’re not worth my time.’ Are they worth anyone√¢‚Ǩ‚Ñ¢√É‚Äû√ɬ¥s time? Once again, they showed themselves susceptible to something other than a legitimate search for ‘the best.’ Once again, marketing appears to have won. The Academy is 78 years old and acting every bit of it, and last night they took another doddering step towards irrelevancy.” — MSNBC’s Eric Lundegaard on last night’s Best Picture Oscar winner.