Ellen Takes the Ultimate Oscars Selfie, Crashes Twitter

Ellen took a temporary break from her hosting duties to take and tweet a (slightly blurred) selfie Hollywood would be proud of, roping in a big bunch of willing A-listers including JLaw, Bradley Cooper, Brad and Angie, Julia Roberts and Meryl Streep.

After a bit of contention about who was going to actually take the photo (Meryl was the first choice but she seemed a little uncertain and admitted that she'd never tweeted before) and a sneaky late entry to the group (Jared Leto jumped in out of nowhere, apparently still riding a high from his best supporting actor win), it was Bradley Cooper who took the matter in hand and snapped the shot. The result was slightly surreal, with the Guardian's live Oscar coverage commenting on the spookiness of seeing "the most photographed people photographing themselves, live on camera, watched by millions". The pic was retweeted over 500,000 times in less than 30 minutes. Then temporarily crashed Twitter. Woah.

After what was arguably an expectedly tame opening monologue, Ellen also wins big points for stirring things up a bit by ordering pizza and then distributing slices to the first few rows of smartly dressed stars, who she assumed must be pretty hungry after weeks of dieting to fit into their gowns and suits. Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill and Martin Scorsese were among those getting in on the action, with a bemused Leonardo DiCaprio firmly declining. Perhaps the best part was when, pizza devoured, Ellen announced she had no money for a tip and suggested that Sandra Bullock cover the costs. Keep up the good work, Ellen.