Apple, I never said I didn't like Polanski's "the Pianist," nor Adrien Brody's performance (though frankly I do prefer Roman's work in "Chinatown", but that's just me nitpicking). I thought it was very, very good coming from a practical unknown. Though I did like Daniel Day's a bit more (and Nicholas Cage did the best work of his career in Spike Jonze's "Adaptation"), Brody still looked good to win the award. To add to that, all of the nominees had already won an Oscar (Nicholson won three!), so Brody had good chances of winning the award. The only bad thing about his winning is the fact he may never be able to do any other sucessful movie again without someone bringing up his work in the Pianist as Wladyslaw Szpilman.