Eddie Murphy, Our 2012 Oscar Host

The calm, I suppose, has settled as the rumor has become fact that Eddie Murphy will be the master of ceremonies at next February's Academy Awards.  The telecast will be produced by Brett Ratner, who coincidentally (not for a second) is directing Murphy in the fall comedy Tower Heist.  While that type of synergistic Hollywood maneuvering may be nothing new, it still reads fishy.  The upside, well at the very least to the Academy, will be a familiar face with a streak (if not exactly currently) of being funny...it's been, what, about twenty years since Murphy has performed live.  And I suppose it smooths things over after his Oscar snub in 2008 for his supporting role in Dreamgirls, I'm guessing Alan Arkin may not be invited to this years festivities.  Murphy is only the third African American to host the Oscar; Whoopi Goldberg did so twice in the 1990s, and Chris Rock hosted in 2005, and while that should be no big, the stat is still true.