Unsecret honor

I'm pleased Robert Altman got a special Oscar on Sunday. He is one of the first film directors whose work I cared deeply about, thanks to an Altman series I saw in college that was put on by the University of Chicago's superb Doc Films. Altman's Nashville is simply my favorite movie, ever, and Sterling Hayden is one of my favorite actors, ever, largely because of his performance in The Long Goodbye.

I liked that the orchestra played "Suicide is Painless," the theme song from M*A*S*H, when Altman walked on stage to accept his award.