My fingers are tired from the blogging marathon I performed last night. Woo. That was strenuous. Four hours of live blogging during the Oscars. It was fun, too.

If you're interested: you can read over 20 posts from last night.

I didn't even wait to hear. I typed those words five minutes before it was announced. I was hoping for Milk but I did love Slumdog.

That's 8 Oscars for Slumdog. It's Slumdog's night.

The Oscar goes to Sean Penn (I wasn't expecting that at all) Standing O. Standing O. What a shocker.

"You commie-homo-loving sons-of-guns. I didn't not expect this. I want it
to be very clear. I know how hard I make it to appreciate me often. But
I am touched by the appreciation…I did scribble down some names in
case you were a commie homo loving sons of guns…"

I am thrilled and a teeny bit disappointed because I wanted to see what Mickey Rourke would say. Luckily, Penn acknowledged Mickey:

"Mickey Rourke rises again and he is my brother."

Cool group of guys. Standing O again. 

Michael Douglas speaks directly to Frank Langella. "The comparisons to the real man fall away…Frank, your work in this film, against all odds, is incomprable and I salute you…"

DeNiro speaks directly to Sean Penn: "How did he do it? How did he get all those jobs playing straight men?…Tonight it is important to be a great actor. In life it's important to be a great man. That's my friend, Sean Penn."

Adrian Brody speaks directly to Richard Jenkins: "This is an actor with a vast repetoire…"

Anthony Hopkins speaks directly to Brad Pitt:  "A brilliant actor I've had the pleasure to work with and know well. Brilliant job, my friend."

Ben Kingsley speaks directly to Mickey Rourke: "Why do we care for a bleached blond battered bruiser? Well, there's one reason: Mickey Rourke…Only a fiercely honest actor could be so effective…Welcome back the returning champ, Mickey Rourke…"

See the men cry.

Standing O and what a group of women!

Shirley MacLaine speaks directly to Anne Hathaway (Rachel Getting Married): "We loved you as a princess, we loved you in Prada… You're a great inspirtion to young actors because you're not afraid to show your dark side…"

Marion Cottillard speaks directly to Kate Winslet (The Reader).

Halle Berre speaks directly to Melissa Leo (Frozen River).

Sophia Loren speaks directly to Meryl Streep (Doubt): Who better? "In Doubt you gave us another one of your singular creations…"

Nicole Kidman speaks directly to Angelina Jolie (The Changeling) "That this role is played so authentically is due to the very modern gifts of Angelina Jolie."

These tributes are incredible:  Sounds to me like they were written by the actors themselves…

And the Oscar goes to Kate Winslet: "I think we can't believe we're in a category with Meryl Street at all…Thank you so much my God."

Another one for the montage next year…

Slumdog Millionaire director Danny Boyle told his children when they were young that if he ever won the Oscar he would "receive it in the spirit of Tigger," one of A.A. Milne's most exuberant creations.

That's why Boyle jumped up and down when he got that gold statuette in his hand.

Too many to name or even absorb. But we noticed Stan Winston (designer of special effects dinosaurs in Jurrasic Park), film critic, Manny Farber, director, Anthony Minghella, director and actor Sidney Pollack, and Paul Newman,

Oh Paul Newman. And it wasn't just a picture it was a whole montage of Paul Newman movies ending with  that famous image from The Sting when he rubs his nose.

Sniff.

Everyone thought Waltz for Bashir was a sure thing. Dark horse Departures from Japan won instead. And I was hoping for a great anti-war acceptance speech from the makers of Bashir, the rotoscoped, partly-animated film
depicting the horrors of Israel's first war in Lebanon in 1982, and the
events leading up to the killings in the Sabra and Shatila Palestinian
refugee camps in Lebanon.

But no. It went to Departures, of which I know nothing. Time to Google…

I got a phone call from a friend who needed info about public high schools so I missed a bit a few minutes of the show.

That's okay.

My friends in Kingston are getting a decent picture (thanks to our Skype transmission). They are grateful for our technological efforts but are quite unimpressed with this year's show.

Could they be more grateful?

The medley of songs from Oscar winning musicals is fun: Beyonce Knowles singing "Top Hat." She even did a few notes of "At Last," which she sang for Obama and Michelle;s first dance at one of the inauguration balls.

"I'm sort of surprised at how good Hugh Jackman is," Hugh just said.

Oh, no: it's the High School musical stars. That can't ruin Beyonce in red looking so leggy, busty, and gorgeous.

They're ending the medley with Mama Mia, I wonder if Meryl Streep is going to get up and sing…

How could they not have Meryl Streep join them? She's sitting right there.

And now Beyonce singing Somewhere Over the Rainbow while Jackman sings Somwhere from West Side Story.

"The musical is back," Jackman exclaims.

Baz Luhrmann, who directed Moulin Rouge, Strictly Ballroom, Australia, Romeo + Juliet directed that number. Oh. that's why it was good. Baz Luhrmann is so cool.

The Aussies are really making this a decent Oscar show.