Silence was golden at the Oscars!

Hello, everybody. At the inaugural Academy Awards ceremony in 1929 (which was actually a banquet, but you get the idea), "Wings", a silent film though sound was starting to become a big deal, was the first Best Picture winner. Well, flash forward 83 years and 3 hours and 13 minutes later to Sunday's 84th annual awards, and "The Artist" taking us back to those bygone times in a big way.

Both that film and Martin Scorsese's "Hugo" each collected five awards, but it was "The Artist" that barked up the most important bounty: Best Actor (Jean Dujardin, beating out odds-on favorite George Clooney), Director (Michel Hazanavicius), and Best Picture of 2011. One of "Hugo's" honors was for Visual Effects, and sharing that: Former Fairbanks resident Ben Grossmann!

Almost 30 years after her last win, Meryl Streep returned to the Oscar stage to claim Best Actress for "The Iron Lady" over heavily favored Viola Davis (her "The Help" co-star Octavia Spencer received Supporting Actress) in a near upset. And 82-year-old Christopher Plummer is the oldest acting winner ever thanks to his Supporting Actor prize for "Beginners." Other big winners include "An Adaptation" (Foreign Language Film, Iran's first), "Rango" (Animated Feature), and "Undefeated" (Documentary Feature).

After an eight-year hiatus, Billy Crystal out-Ricky Gervais Ricky Gervais (or make that, out-James Franco and Anne Hathaway James Franco and Anne Hathaway from last year) in his ninth go-around as emcee kept things breezing along throughout the evening, even with an abbreviated version of his opening medley to incorporate the nine Best Picture nominees.

An hour or so prior to all that, the stars went around the red carpet, where white was the order of the day for Milla Jovovich (Marchesa), Gwyneth Paltrow (Tom Ford), and Rooney Mara (Givenchy). Of course there were others, like Michelle Williams in Louis Vuitton and Jessica Chastain in Alexander McQueen among others, but the big talk was saved for Angelina Jolie showing leg in Atleier Versace (it even got its own Twitter), and Jennifer Lopez appearing to be showing a little extra alongside Cameron Diaz on stage. By the way, an injury forced Halle Berry to watch the awards at home, as she was going to be one of the presenters.

So, who was the showstopper? To coin that term from one former WWE alum to another, has to be Stacy Keibler looking like a golden goddess in her Marchesa. Even though her guy graciously lost, she was a true winner in our book; for Stacy, being at the Oscars was indeed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Who knew that the woman who came into our lives as Miss Hancock in WCW and would carry her sexiness over to WWE, "Dancing With The Stars", and beyond would wind up being front and center in front of an even larger television audience than Wrestlemania on the original Grandest Stage of Them All?? She'll remember this night for as long as she lives, trust me.

Oh, and after looking like a princess last year, Natalie Portman this year? She looked more like a paupette in her vintage 1954 Christian Dior.

With 17 nominations and her two previous wins, she was Susan Lucci done right. And now with her third trophy, Meryl Streep is back in the spotlight thanks to her role as Margaret Thatcher. Five years ago at this time, Helen Mirren's Queen Elizabeth won her the gold, proving that female British icons can nab you the richest American-made prize in entertainment.

But after all the hardware was passed out, one film proved that at the 84th Annual Academy Awards, silence was indeed golden.

Now...one of the people featured in the In Memoriam montage was Whitney Houston, and there's already fallout from last weekend's star-studded funeral. Why?

The cover of the latest "National Enquirer" had a photo of Whitney in an open casket, allegedly taken before the service. Tons of media outlets threw huge fits about it, calling that move "morbid" and "shameful."

From an editorial perspective...what's the big deal? Martin Luther King, Jr's funeral was open casket and televised to the world; so was James Brown's, but why Whitney? It was the "Enquirer" that also ran a photo of Elvis Presley in his open casket after he died in 1977, while the "New York Post" did the same thing with John Lennon three years later. I think it's both good and bad on both fronts: good for business, bad because they want to capitalize on Houston's death even further. But I can give you this: It was our final ever glimpse of a music icon who was troubled to the end. So long and stay strong.