What Baby? Oscar Producers Beg MIA to Perform

No more tweens, boring categories, unfunny hosts

(NEWSER) - The Oscars tried really hard for a broader appeal this year—10 best picture nominees! A Neil Patrick Harris appearance!—but even so, Ramin Setoodeh is "having trouble remembering anything that happened during the lethargic 210-minute ceremony." He offers five ways the Oscars can really improve in the future in Newsweek:

• Hire hosts who are actually funny: Joining the now decade-long tradition of hosts who have bombed, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin “opened the show like the old uncles at your family reunion.”

(NEWSER) - The red carpet was rolled out once again—who sashayed down it and who clunked her way along? Elizabeth Snead of the Los Angeles Times snarks and sings about this year's Oscar fashion, while Christopher Muther moans about the "battle of the bland" in the Boston Globe.

• Frozen River's Melissa Leo somehow confused the Academy Awards with prom night.
• Zac Efron's no king of the Oscar world; he tried to channel Leonardo DiCaprio with his slicked-back hair, but ended up looking like a creepy French waiter.

Audiences get closer to the red carpet than ever

(NEWSER) - Thanks to the wonders of technology, you’ll be able to get closer than ever to the stars on the red carpet come Oscar night tomorrow, Variety reports. Several websites will allow users to zoom in, à la Google Earth, and magnify high-res photos up to four times. More»

Best Actress winner donates $10K to struggling Central Falls school

(NEWSER) - Meryl Streep's Best Actress win over Viola Davis was the big upset of the Oscars; even Streep herself seemed surprised, calling the whole process "a crapshoot." But now she's making it up to Davis—in a big way. Streep donated $10,000 to a struggling school in Rhode Island in Davis' honor, Reuters reports. Davis has been championing the bankrupt Central Falls, Rhode Island , where she grew up, inspiring Streep to send a check to the Segue Institute for Learning, a charter school in town facing the loss of its building. Click for more on Central Falls' woes . More»

Angelina gam busting out all over Internet

(NEWSER) - No one can quite shake the image of Angelina Jolie obsessively flashing her toned right leg from the slit up her dress at the Oscars. So what to do? Turn to the new "leg bombing" meme that's a runaway hit with Internet fans. The burgeoning meme has Angelina's leg handing (booting?) an Oscar to a winner, attached to Napoleon and Mahatma Gandhi, being raised at Iwo Jima by soldiers, and sticking out of a lamb carcass being hoisted by Meryl Streep playing Julia Child. Check out lots of variations at Pinterest here or the Sun to get a thighful—or follow AngiesRightLeg with 32,000 others on Twitter ("I just can't get enough of myself," gushes the gam.). More»