Letters

I loved the Oscar telecast. I thought the producers did an elegant and irreverent job with the whole show. And Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin were perfect.

Judy Silk

Pacific Palisades

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Who picked those two guys to host the Academy Awards? I was available.

Bill Simpson

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The dyspeptic review that Mary McNamara wrote [“A Show With No Sense of Timing,” March 8] left me wondering: How many antacid pills did she miss taking? My family and I were oohing and aahing over the opening scene that would have made Busby Berkeley envious! Where was her sense of whimsy and awe? That black-and-white scene was fabulous and Neil Patrick Harris was especially appealing.

Char Salkin

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Fortunately, the greatest snow job on earth was not a total wash. It was a pleasure to see Jeff Bridges rewarded for playing out a crazy heartfelt story with a winner song, original thought, imagination and class -- that which is sorely missing in the badly broken realm of Hollywood, where a constant stream of social and political junk flow as bitter excuses for entertainment.

Daniel B. Jeffs

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As an aspiring filmmaker, it is important for me to see women like Kathryn Bigelow pursue their dream and come out with the highest honor anyone in the film industry can receive.

There needs to be more focus by the media on women like Bigelow who are praised not because they are female, but rather for their talent as directors. Otherwise, film directing will continue to marginalize the talent of these women, and that is not acceptable.

Angelique Lucania

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“The Hurt Locker” was a good movie and well written but I find it strange that no credit was given to ex-President Bush and Vice President Cheney for starting the Iraq war. Without their orchestration, “Hurt Locker” and Kathryn Bigelow would not be holding those Oscars.

Herb Wenzel

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The display of humility as Sandra Bullock accepted her award for lead actress was truly admirable.

Perhaps we can applaud her late mother for inspiring her to channel the depth and selflessness of her character as Leigh Anne Tuohy.

After 23 years, Bullock has exceeded the expectations of many and has now entered a new platform in her career. Cheers to her!

Rita Korkounian

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I always watch the Oscar show, but this year I knew from the start it was going to be a major disappointment. Its doom was sealed ever since somebody at the academy decreed that the tributes to Lauren Bacall, Roger Corman and Gordon Willis would not be part of the broadcast.

The best things in any Oscar show are the tributes, with all their nostalgia and excitement, film clips and speeches from people who have made great contributions to film.

But not this year. All we got were canned, thin slices of moments from a gala event videotaped many months earlier.

The lesson was clear to Bacall, Corman, Willis and everyone else in the industry: It’s not enough to do great work and have an outstanding career -- you also have to die much too young, like John Hughes.

Preston Neal Jones

Get a clue with Nancy Drew

Re “Young Adult Lit Comes of Age,” March 8: I take exception to Susan Carpenter’s description of the young adult selections of the 1960s and 1970s as “staid, emotionless tales of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys.”

As a then tween, those mysteries allowed me to lose myself in thoughts of being a strong, smart and capable young woman like Nancy and her crime-solving best friends.

I became a voracious reader, sometimes racing through two mysteries a day during my lazy summer vacation on a dock in Lake Arrowhead.

I couldn’t get enough of the fun they were having, out-smarting adults and local police, and helping put the bad guys away.

I learned how to ask questions and developed great powers of reasoning and deduction. And, most importantly, I learned to always trust my gut instincts.

Came in handy when I became a parent.

Young adults today have lots to choose from in the YA genre, but I wouldn’t trade my time being a junior sleuth in the summer of ’64.

Vicki Miceli

Karl Rove didn’t get a fair shake

Re “Rove’s Excuses Ring Empty,” March 9: Assigning Tim Rutten to review Karl Rove’s memoir is like assigning Keith Olbermann to write an appreciation of Bill O’Reilly. The result is preordained.

Charles K. Sergis

Don’t redevelop Emerald City

Re “Toto Recall,” by Steven Zeitchik, March 11: When will Hollywood stop with the classic remake sacrileges? The ‘70s remake of “Lost Horizon” was unendurably horrible. The recent remake of “The Day the Earth Stood Still” was even worse. Can a remake of “Gone With the Wind” be far away? Endless special effects and dark vulgarity, the only things the Hollywood of today seems to know how to do, are not the stuff of classics.

Joe Bonino

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Oh, good -- improving on what’s already perfect!

Maybe we can now look forward to a 3-D animated musical of “Gone With the Wind.” And to entice the market for teenage boys, they can make it a slasher movie to boot.

Mike Varady