My favorite song — heck, series of songs — in 2007 came in the deeply felt Once. It should have been in the running for three songs, but the fact it won against Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz’s wildly popular Enchanted is great.

But the real favorite this hour was Freeheld, the only outwardly gay-themed film nominated for an Oscar this year. It won for documentary short, and in a little bit of irony, the win was announced by an active soldier in Iraq.

 Finally, though, it is a bit odd that the best picture and director win, the very American No Country for Old Men, is about the only “American” recipient. Every acting winner this year is European.

— Arnold Wayne Jones 

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