One of the good things about Social Network/Black Swan losing is that they get to be considered unjust losers, which is sometimes better than being the winner. (Especially in this case, because I figured if either won, there would be a lot of people complaining about not getting the appeal. Now with The King's Speech as the victor, there's already quite a few people going "OK... but best?")

Also it gets to be part of a much cooler list of films.

(I scribbled these out in a couple minutes, so they're not amazingly great...)

Out of the best picture winners I've seen, here are my ten favorite:

1) You Can't Take It With You
2) No Country For Old Men
3) The Apartment
4) On The Waterfront
5) Annie Hall
6) American Beauty
7) Amadeus
8) The Bridge On The River Kwai
9) The Godfather
10) The Hurt Locker

And for best picture nominees (but losers):

1) A Clockwork Orange
2) Apocalypse Now
3) Taxi Driver
4) Raging Bull
5) It's A Wonderful Life
6) There Will Be Blood
7) The Graduate
8) Dr. Strangelove
9) Mr. Smith Goes To Washington
10) Fargo

Now obviously, the losing category has a better chance of looking better since it's got 4 times as many movies to choose from. But still, I think there's a natural inclination to love something a little more because it went (relatively) unrewarded. And those are pretty great films to hang out with.

I guess what I'm saying is that The King's Speech needed the Oscar more than Social Network did, and the Social Network will be even more fondly regarded because of its loss... which is what it should be all about anyway.