The 79th Academy Awards

I want to have a lot to say about The Academy Awards, but the impression I am left with goes little further than: "Wow! That's a lot of commercials." Can't anything be broadcast anymore without an overwhelming inundation of advertisements. Television is so dull!

Because I dislike attending the cinema, I have only seen two of the films that won any awards. I look forward to seeing others.

The Al Gore-starring and -inspired "An Inconvenient Truth" received a lot of attention, and that is a good thing.

The list of last night's award presentations, from oscars.org

Performance by an actor in a leading role
Forest Whitaker in "The Last King of Scotland" (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Alan Arkin in "Little Miss Sunshine" (Fox Searchlight)

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Helen Mirren in "The Queen" (Miramax, Pathé and Granada)

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Jennifer Hudson in "Dreamgirls" (DreamWorks and Paramount)

Best animated feature film of the year
"Happy Feet" (Warner Bros.) George Miller

Achievement in art direction
"Pan’s Labyrinth" (Picturehouse)
Art Direction: Eugenio Caballero
Set Decoration: Pilar Revuelta

Achievement in cinematography
"Pan’s Labyrinth" (Picturehouse) Guillermo Navarro

Achievement in costume design
"Marie Antoinette" (Sony Pictures Releasing) Milena Canonero

Achievement in directing
"The Departed" Martin Scorsese (Warner Bros.)

Best documentary feature
"An Inconvenient Truth" (Paramount Classics and Participant Productions)
A Lawrence Bender/Laurie David Production
Davis Guggenheim

Best documentary short subject
"The Blood of Yingzhou District"
A Thomas Lennon Films Production
Ruby Yang and Thomas Lennon

Achievement in film editing
"The Departed" (Warner Bros.)
Thelma Schoonmaker

Best foreign language film of the year
"The Lives of Others" A Wiedemann & Berg Production
Germany

Achievement in makeup
"Pan’s Labyrinth" (Picturehouse) David Martí and Montse Ribé

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
"Babel" (Paramount and Paramount Vantage) Gustavo Santaolalla

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
"I Need to Wake Up" from "An Inconvenient Truth"
(Paramount Classics and Participant Productions)
Music and Lyric by Melissa Etheridge

Best motion picture of the year
"The Departed" (Warner Bros.)
A Warner Bros. Pictures Production
Graham King, Producer

Best animated short film
"The Danish Poet" (National Film Board of Canada)
A Mikrofilm and National Film Board of Canada Production
Torill Kove

Best live action short film
"West Bank Story"
An Ari Sandel, Pascal Vaguelsy, Amy Kim, Ravi Malhotra and Ashley Jordan Production
Ari Sandel

Achievement in sound editing
"Letters from Iwo Jima" (Warner Bros.)
Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman

Achievement in sound mixing
"Dreamgirls" (DreamWorks and Paramount)
Michael Minkler, Bob Beemer and Willie Burton

Achievement in visual effects
"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest" (Buena Vista)
John Knoll, Hal Hickel, Charles Gibson and Allen Hall

Adapted screenplay
"The Departed" (Warner Bros.)
Screenplay by William Monahan

Original screenplay
"Little Miss Sunshine" (Fox Searchlight)
Written by Michael Arndt

Read The Rabbi Report. I do. He's the most knowledgeable film-oriented friend I have.

On another note: my Arsenal lost the Carling Cup final to Chelsea. Congratulations to my friends who support the Blue Russians.