I keep expecting this whole 'Eddie Murphy hosts the Oscars' thing to be a faulty meme, but now that the news is confirmed, I guess I'll have to come to grips with it. Okay -- done. After all, Murphy is one of the highest-grossing movie stars of all time, can be very very funny, and has proven he can still be funny without using swears ('Shrek'). He has been nominated for "The Statue." (And who can hold it against him if he left the theater shortly after he lost it to Alan Arkin?)



Truth is, the most shocking thing about this whole whirlwind of a story is that Brett Ratner is co-producing the Oscars. Has the Academy looked at his resume lately? What am I saying? These are the same people who thought James Franco and Anne Hathaway were the answer to their problems.