As much as I have been encouraged by the democratization of news the internet has brought about — anyone can report on anything at anytime — I believe in paid content. You get what you pay for. If you want your news for free, you’re going to get news of little or no monetary value produced by just anyone at anytime. Free news is good news, but news with a monetary value is better news. What I have said a few times during the past year as I was involved in attempts to create paid online news sites — and even been quoted a couple times saying it — is that the great myth of this age of journalism is that newspapers’ free online content is actually free. It’s not; it’s subsidized.

Avatar not winning Best Picture is a dream come true, but like dreams, the accompanying joy is a fleeting, misty feeling that has nearly dissipated. The Hurt Locker was a historic and flawless, but was it really the Best Picture? What is the definition of a Best Picture anyway?

What might turn out to be the final year of five Best Picture nominees was one of the best arguments for expanding the field. Two quality box office successes — WALL-E and The Dark Knight were left off the list while the field was made up of movies that earned their nominations based on expectations (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, (Frost/Nixon) or marketing (The Reader) rather than critical reputation (Slumdog Millionaire, Milk). Ten nominees might have changed the winner.

Sometimes everything works out. The best picture won Best Picture; all the acting awards went to strong, risky performances from actors who are outside the Hollywood mainstream — Daniel Day Lewis, Marion Cotillard, Javier Bardem and Tilda Swinton; Best Original Song went to the sweet ballad from Once rather than any of the trio nominated from Enchanted; Best Original Score went to Atonement, where the music was a nearly breathing character itself; even three of the technical awards went not to the biggest, loudest, brightest action movie of the year, Tranformers, but to a quality thriller in The Bourne Ultimatum, which won both sound awards and editing.

Martin Scorsese tried, tried, tried, tried, tried and tried again before finally winning an Oscar for Best Director and/or Best Picture, and he managed to do it with his first movie in a long time that didn’t seem created specifically for that purpose.

Crash is a simplistic, Hollywood pat-on-the-back look at race relations that manages to confirm all the worst stereotypes while at first seeming to contradict them. It’s two hours of sometimes interesting performances and cross-pollinating stories that nearly makes you go hmmm at the end, only to forget everything you saw 10 minutes later. It is Robert Altman or P.T. Anderson as done by a freshman high school class in Brentwood. This movie is not the end of the world, it’s not the worst movie ever made. It’s just in no way the Best Picture and possibly the best proof that in the end, these awards mean nothing.

The lesson of the year is to try, try again. Clint Eastwood misses an Oscar for his best film? Don’t worry, he’ll get another chance. The Harry Potter movies suck? Don’t worry, give them to someone who understands that childhood isn’t always bright colors and wide-eyed wonder. Bourne too comfy in his new identity? Don’t worry, just ice his girlfriend.