Holy, moly — I knew this year was gonna be f*cked up. I mean, we all knew supporting actress was wide open, but how many people lost money on Tilda Swinton’s win? She looked more surprised even than Ruby Dee and Amy Ryan (Amy, to be fair, smiled wide). That followed quickly on the heals of Javier Bardem’s predictable win for supporting actor. (No gay man would have given him that haircut, but he deserved the win.) The Coens then won for adapted screenplay for No Country for Old Men, the evening’s first double winner.

I saw all the short film nominees. I have a policy about live action short and foreign films: Movies with cute kids in adult situations so mawkish that the Academy would laugh them off a list of potential best picture nominees win these awards like popcorn. So the fact Les Mozart des Pickpockets was not the best of the lot doesn’t matter. On the other hand, Peter and the Wolf was the best animated short.

 They aren’t wasting time, either — it’s barely 90 minutes in, and already actress (an upset Marion Cotillard), supporting actor and actress and adapted screenplay have been presented. 

 — Arnold Wayne Jones

Well, not off to a great start. Jon Stewart’s monologue was full of duds — virtually no memorable one-liners. And any awards for Elizabeth: The Golden Age seem misdirected. Still, anything beats the terrible red carpet idiocy. Why did Regis Philbin offer “good luck” to Helen Mirren? She’s a presenter! And shouldn’t you wish that an actor break a leg?

Oh, well, gotta get back to it — there’s another six hours of this.

 — Arnold Wayne Jones

This just in from an anonymous source in the Barack Obama campaign (yeah, I got connections). There will be an “Obama Pride” party on Monday night, Feb. 25, at Havana, 4006 Cedar Springs Road. The party will follow the Town Hall meeting at Station 4 featuring the LGBT directors for both the Clinton and Obama campaigns, as well as the executive director of National Stonewall Democrats. The town hall begins at 7 p.m., and my Obama source (which could be Barack himself, for all you know) tells me the afterparty will run from about 9 p.m. to midnight. Havana is closed on Monday night, but apparently the campaign has rented out the joint.

—John Wright

Country-flavored singer-songwriter Kristie Stremel, pictured, played a gig in Denton in 2004. But in December, the lesbian songstress took a sabbatical and went back to school to finish her degree at the Garden City Community College, in Garden City, Kansas. 

On Jan 30, Stremel attended a lecture where Finney County Attorney John Wheeler was asked to provide information relating to sexual assault, prevention of sex offenses and procedures to follow after an offense has occurred.

Because of the Cleary Act, all colleges that receive federal financial aid are required to provide education regarding sexual offenses and their prevention. Stremel says more than 100 students attended Wheeler’s 30-minute slide presentation where sodomy was defined as a sex crime. In Kansas, same-sex sodomy is outlawed, but because of Lawrence v. Texas, the law in unenforceable. 

Stremel sent a clip of the lecture — to get the word out that this is the message gays in Kansas hear. And to refuse Wheeler to make her and her gay brothers and sisters into criminals.    

Here’s the clip:

 wheeler-lecture-gccc-13008.mp3

 — Daniel A. Kusner

This is either a sick joke or an extremely unfortunate situation. I received an e-mail this morning saying that Jaymee Johnson, the former recruiting coordinator for Dallas’ gay softball league, had passed away. Someone also posted this information in the comments section of the SpeakOut poll on Dallas Voice’s Web site.

If you’ll remember, Johnson is the one who recently admitted to misappropriating $2,000 from the Pegasus Slowpitch Softball Association. I tried calling and e-mailing Johnson this morning in hopes of confirming the sick joke scenario. It turns out his phone number has been disconnected or changed, and his Yahoo e-mail account has been cancelled.

It’s quite possible Johnson just decided to change his phone number and get rid of the account. The last time I heard from him, he was complaining that the league had hired someone to skip-trace him even though he was already paying back the money.

It’s also possible that someone involved with the league is spreading a rumor because they’re angry about the story, which noted that PSSA is reviewing its accounting procedures as a result of the incident.

If anyone knows more about this, please contact me at 214-754-8710 ext. 113 or wright@dallasvoice.com. Thanks.

—John Wright

This morning, Hillary Clinton basically encouraged Dallasites to vote early. She was in Oak Cliff near the Bank One Tower on Zang Boulevard. I arrived a little late. 

Traffic was backed up this morning. While the motorcade was en route to the Cliff, a motorcycle cop was involved in an accident and was killed around 9:20 a.m. There aren’t many details about the accident. Clinton said she was “heartsick” about the death and promised to call the officer’s family today.

HIllary in action:

Protesters vs. supporters:

Secret service daddies:

News crews:

In a campaign swing through San Antonio yesterday, GOP hopeful Mike Huckabee chose what he apparently believed to be inspiring words.  Disputing that John McCain had the nomination locked up, he quoted from Col. Travis, holed up in the Alamo, saying he would never retreat or surrender until it was over.

Fine sentiment, there, Mike. But Travis — and everyone else at the Alamo for that matter — was slaughtered by  Santa Ana in a hopeless last stand. Were they brave? Absolutely. But not exactly a good frame of reference to suggest you still have a prayer in this campaign.

— Arnold Wayne Jones 

This year, I feel a little out of it when it comes to the Oscars. I’m deeply ambivalent to many of the major nominees (”Michael Clayton,” “There Will Be Blood” and “Atonement”) and the ones I really do like (”No Country for Old Men” and “Juno”) are so dissimilar, it’s difficult to compare them — or figure how the Academy will compare them, either. So what’s gonna win? What deserves to?

Check out the print edition of the Dallas Voice this week to see my pix-versus-predix in the major categories, but tune into Lambda Weekly, KNON 89.3, at noon on Sunday to get my most up-to-the-minute, my-opinions-keep-changing guesses. I’ll definitely be watching the awards on Sunday night. I just don’t know what I’ll be thinking as the winners are announced.

— Arnold Wayne Jones 

Reality TV has always embraced gay contestants, although in the early days, it was often only to sow conflict: The Christian mother of four teamed with the flamboyant bottom. But shows like “Project Runway” and “Top Chef” have made it not only passe to be gay, sometimes it seems like a requirement.

But with the latest installment of “Big Snooz”… er, “Brother,” it looks more like the era of the “token” gay is here to stay … for a few more weeks, at least. Gay Dallas media buyer Josh was teamed with L.A. Realtor Neil in a “Death Do You Part” twist where teams compete as one — and the producers insist that they have been paired with their potential “soulmates.”

But last night, we lost one of the gays. Neil left “due to a personal emergency,” and Josh’s only option was to team up with a straight guy or a straight girl, both of whom were booted before America could learn to hate them. So Josh’s “soulmate” is now just some stranger who’s already proven expert at getting kicked out of the house.

The gimmick — like the entire show — is stupid in the first place. A showmance is one thing, but a “soulmate”? C’mon.

But what really ticks me off is that Neil was so casually allowed to leave. “Big Brother” is the show that openly weighed whether to inform the contestants of the 9-11 attacks, only deciding they should because one contestant’s family member was in one of the buildings. So what “personal emergency” could warrant allowing one of only two gays to quickly and unceremoniously leave the show?

 I’m so over this show. Oh, I’ll keep watching for the beefcake. But it is so over.

— Arnold Wayne Jones 

Apparently local Republicans aren’t too fired up about the already-decided race between John McCain and Mike Huckabee for the party’s presidential nomination.

Democrats outvoted Republicans by a margin of 8,592 to 2,412 on Tuesday, Feb. 19, the first day of early voting in Dallas County, according to Democratic Party Chairwoman Darlene Ewing.

“This is huge and it’s only going to build,” Ewing told Stonewall Democrats of Dallas during the group’s regular monthly meeting at Ojeda’s Restaurant in Oak Lawn on Tuesday night. “Go vote now because you do not want to stand in line on election day.”

By the way, speaking of Huckabee, did anyone notice that The Dallas Morning News on Tuesday reaffirmed its earlier endorsement of the former Arkansas governor. Not only that, but the newspaper went so far as to call Huckabee “progressive.”

WTF?

—John Wright