It didn't surprise me that Birdman won Best Picture last weekend. What surprised me is that the movie isn't very good. In fact it's kind of bad. Not, you know, Titanic bad, but around there somewhere. So how does a mediocre movie with schticky camerawork and the most self-serving premise since The Player win filmdom's most coveted statuette? Dirty pool, most likely. I'm not saying that the publicists for Birdman necessarily played said pool, but somebody sure did. I'm talking about underhanded Oscar campaign tactics, kids. There were a lot of them this year. I discuss how I know this in my latest podcast.

Also!

• I covered the run-up to the Oscars. I also covered the coverage of the Oscars.
• I am tired.
• My co-host from Chill City needs to talk about the Oscar gowns for a minute and I let him.
• More of your questions about how Hollywood really works... answered!