Oscar nods are in, and so are the opinions

Poor Michael Moore! The anti-American propagandist had the door shut in his face by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Hollywood apparently got the memo sent Nov. 2 by the people of this great country.

Jon Alvarez

Baldwinsville, N.Y.

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So the academy nominated the fine wine and forgot to nominate what gave it character. How could you nominate “Sideways” for best picture and not nominate Paul Giamatti for best actor? Perhaps they are all too drunk on Merlot to recognize true vintage.

Frederick Ponzlov

Long Beach

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The fact that there were five black and Latino stars nominated is of passing interest [“Off-Center ... Privately Funded ... Independent

Tracy Wells

Long Beach

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I am appalled at the ignoring of “The Passion of the Christ” in the 77th Academy Awards. It was a magnificent picture with superb acting and direction.

Lin Volturo

Herndon, Va.

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As a person living outside of Hollywood in Middle America, I just want to say that all these awards and accolades given for film as well as television are becoming shameful in many respects.

In an industry where the monetary rewards are already impossible for most people to even imagine, they find it necessary to praise their work continuously in the public forum, pat each other on the back, give lengthy speeches about each other’s greatness while accepting expensive gifts, jewelry and designer clothing and mark their already high-paid work with trophies of various kinds.

Why is it necessary to be acknowledged for a job that you’ve been paid multimillions to do?

L. Kowalis

Orland Park, Ill.