It’s hard to imagine the dark ages where people sat down and watched the Oscars before HD and DVRs, but TV really is more enjoyable now than ever. Between being able to skip over the chaff (i.e. the boring awards, the likes of Celine Dion, that insuffrable Chris Connelly and his lame commercial bumps, and, of course, the commercials themselves), the rather good 720p picture (Scorsese’s eyebrows LEPT from the screen! and it was fantastic), and the full surround (replete with people banging on the mic bound to the left rear channel), the Oscars were never so kinda-fun. I can definitely say that having sat in the aisle, second row at the Kodak during the Wii unveiling, you really did feel like you were there. Of course, as always the Moto DVR didn’t record it properly and cut off the show about 10 minutes before they announced all the big awards. Still, it somehow managed to work out and we didn’t even have to suffer through any post-show Barbara Walters as we cleaned up — thank you pause button.