Many stars sashayed down the red carpet last evening, many nominees for an Academy Award but they all could not be winners.

Sean Penn was the big Leading Man winner for his role in "Milk." He used his winner speech time to insult those who voted against the gay marriage amendment in California.

Sean, to me, is a weird actor. He doesn't look like a leading man like Gary Cooper or John Wayne or Tom Hanks or Michael Douglas. Yet, he is not wimpy and he adds an intensity to every role he plays. He is not my favorite actor, but sometimes I am mesmerized by his performance on the screen.

How could a face like Sean's ever get into the movies?

Kate Winslet, for her role in "The Reader," won the Leading Woman Award. Kate is such a great actress and she was expected to win. She said, "I'd be lying if I haven't made a version of this speech before. I think I was probably 8 years old and staring into the bathroom mirror and this (Oscar) would be a shampoo bottle. But it's not a shampoo bottle now."

The Oscars are what some little girls and boys dream of. They are what some old men and women dream of.

The Oscar statuette is a knight with crusader's sword standing on a reel of film. It weighs eight-and-a-half pounds. It is thirteen-and-a-half inches tall and is made of gold-plated britannium, a metal alloy. R.S. Owens & Company of Chicago makes the statuettes in excess of those needed because it is hard to predict the exact number that will be needed. One composition is: Sn : 93%, Sb : 3%, Cu : 2%. What, no high school chemistry? Tin, Antimony, Copper.

Despite the weight of the award, the actors carried them around later to the many parties that followed.

I always get a kick out the losers. They seem so happy for the actual winner although they are very disappointed not to win.

Stiff upper lip!

Sometimes you could see a "happy" face turn into a sorrowful one.

It is difficult to get nominated.

It is more difficult to win.

So, not winning might also mean giving up the only opportunity to win in ones life.

Yet, just to be nominated is very important and has its own commercial rewards. You will always be known as a nominee.

The Winning Picture was Slumdog Millionaire.

It was fun to watch the cast, producers and director during the presentations. When it was their turn to take the stand, about half of the audience went to the stand.

Nobody was left out.

O.K. Maybe it was not one-half of the audience, but close.

I noticed that the Japanese and the Indians wanted everybody to get some credit, so up to the stage.

The settings for this years Academy Awards was amazingly good. It was the best that I've seen and I am an old man.

David Rockwell, architect and designer, created a party-like setting that was at times to me comfortable and informal. Yet the new proscenium curtain comprised of approximately 100,000 Swarovski crystals in a variety of shapes and sizes, revealed the high-profile fashion associated with the event.

Something else that seemed new to me was parading out five previous award winners to comment on the five nominees. There was some contrast between the old and the new.

Well, some were not that old.

I always like to watch the presentation on those who have passed during the year. Unlike most of us, there is some lingering presence of dead actors. They continue to live in the movies they made.

Jerry Lewis received a special award for his humanitarianism. He gave a short, dignified speech showing no pretension.

Now, that was nice!

One image that will live with me is Meryl Steep who has been nominated fifteen times. She got a lot of praise from the podium and she always put her hands to her breast as if to say, "Little Old Me?"

She is such a great actress, knows she is a great actress, but tries to be humble. My favorite role for her was "Out of Africa" with Robert Redford who I did not see at the Oscars.

He was probably watching form Park City, Utah or such.

What a great show!



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