Slumdog Millionaire's night at the Oscars (with some NASCAR too)

-And the winner is... Slumdog Millionaire! A bunch of people come up on stage, after some initial hesitation, including the kids from the slum. Wow, what great television, the cute little kid is right up behind the podium. Christian Colson, producer, speaks for them all--"when we started out we had no stars, we had no power or muscle... but we had a script that inspired mad love."

A movie that almost went straight to DVD... doesn't exactly inspire confidence in Hollywood's ability to tell good stories, especially when the stories aren't filled with the same-old characters and faces.

And that's it, awards are all given out, 5 minutes shy of the clock striking midnight. Only appropriate that in the year of Barack Obama "Slumdog Millionaire" wins -- and of course, there is a connection.

Interesting, the montage at the end over credits is of upcoming releases; a great idea; makes me wish summer would hurry up and get here.

-Stephen Spielberg comes out, solo, to introduce a montage of past best pictures alongside this year's nominees. Wow, they do something really clever, using past best pictures intercut with clips from each of this year's nominees, like they're using documentary footage. Hardest with Slumdog.

-Best actor is next. The presenters get the standing O, all the old lions are there. I hope Frank Langella wins for Frost/Nixon, I saw him on stage and he was great. Robert De Niro says, "being a movie star can get in the way of acting; but not for Sean Penn." It's a great line, and captures Penn exactly--he wants to make films, not be a star.

Sean Penn wins, to big applause. Speech should be interesting. "You commie, homo-loving sons of guns!" is how he starts. At the end he tells those who voted for the ban on gay marriage to sit and reflect on their great shame and those of their kids and grandkids if they continue in that way....

"I'm very proud to live in a country that's willing to elect an elegant man president," and a country that in all it's toughness creates the kind of artists it does, with a shout-out to Mickey Rourke, "who is my brother."

-Wow, Sophia Loren, among others, on stage to present best Actress. They all get a standing ovation, as well they should. Loren looks regal. I like this personalized presentation where each nominee gets a little speech from a previous winner; can be a bit cheesy and over-the-top, but is also just interesting to watch.

Loren does Meryl Streep; she doesn't look very good, too made up and too much surgery; but you have to keep watching, she has presence. Nicole Kidman does Angelina Jolie, who's wearing emeralds apparently.

And Kate Winslet wins, which is cool; I like how she's grown over the years. It's her first win after 6 nominations. Tells her dad to whistle so she can see where he's sitting, and he does, to loud applause; it's a great moment.

Thanks a lot of people, is a pro at this; but the emotion shows through, a little shriek at the end even.

-Reese Witherspoon oddly enough is presenting the Best Director award. Man, hope Danny Boyle wins, very curious to hear him speak. And he does win, jumps up and down on stage, in the spirit of Tigger he says. Thanks his kids and his wife, his dad and sister, bunch of execs; thanks the guy who choreographed the dance at the end of the film who was left off the film's credits.

And thanks Mumbai, "you dwarf even this guy," referring to Oscar. 7 for Slumdog.

-Queen Latifa sings "I'll Be Seeing You" as they roll the notable deaths from the year; ah, how times do change, she has a pretty good voice for this. Hate how they show the people on screens inside the auditorium, it's such a self-conscious technique. And you can barely see some of the names as the camera moves around.

Charlton Heston doesn't seem to get either extra time or applause, which is a crime given his place in Hollywood history; Paul Newman appropriately does, they end with him. Heath Ledger was in there I guess, I didn't notice.

-Japanese movie wins best foreign language film, Departures. "I am here because of films... and we will be back, I hope," says director Yojiro Takita.

-Wow, a bunch of Indian dancers all in pink run up on stage to perform the first of two original songs from Slumdog, Rahman takes the mike and sings. It's an amazingly powerful and important moment. Wall-E's song is next, sung by John Legend; it's pretty cool too, with African dancers and chorus. Curious what the majority of white Americans who voted for John McCain are thinking and saying watching all this.

They sing the second Slumdog song; it just busts out through the stage, as John Legend and Rahman mesh their songs into a duet.

And the winner is... Jai Ho! 6 for Slumdog tonight, how great is that. Rahman's just been on stage continuously for the last 10 mintues. Thanks everyone from Mumbai, as an emotional Danny Boyle looks on; "all my life I've had a choice between hate and love -- I chose love, and here I am."

L.A. Times' blog, of course, is still writing about Bob Hope..... Classy Hugh Jackman gives the performers another hand.

-Alicia Keys looks resplendent in a purple gown, sounds regal in reading the nominees--properly pronouncing A.R. Rahman--for best original score. And he wins! 5 for Slumdog. He's one of my favorite composers today; says God is great at the end.

-Eddie Murphy presents a special humanitarian award to Jerry Lewis, whose work with the muscular dystrophy telethon will outlive everything everyone in the audience tonight has ever done. He comes out to a standing ovation; really, who cares about Heath, this should be the signature moment from tonight. What a great guy; gives a heartfelt speech, classy words from a throwback to another era.

-My god, 10:30 already and we haven't even gotten to the big 6 yet. "Slum dog Millionaire" wins again, its fourth, for Film Editing. Chris Dickens says he had a great time working on this film; and thanks his sisters -- Sally, Allie, Lizzy.

-Best Sound Editing, "Slumdog Millionaire" is up for it, "Dark Knight" wins. Hmm, interesting. Sound Mixing, "Slumdog Millionaire" wins for this. Nice to see some non-white faces speaking; Resul Pookutty. Is clearly overwhelmed, mentions the two others up there with him. Dedicates it to India, "sincere and deepest gratitude" to those he worked with on the film, and all the sound mixers.

-They do a super-long montage of, no kidding, car crashes and chases. Really, it's just pointless. "Curious Case of Benjamin Button" wins for best Visual Effects, beating out "Dark Knight." Uh, okay. Cause making one guy seem old is more impressive than creating Gotham.

-"Smile Pinki" wins best documentary short, the filmmaker Megan Mylan, all in red, seems like a real person, is all out of breath after running up there. I like her right away; the film is about kids with cleft lips, she talks about the subjects of her film, including Pinki Kumari.

-Documentary filmmakers get a video montage where they talk to the camera, which is appropriate. Hmm, the video was made by Albert Maisles, Bill Maher tells us afterwards. Documentaries are our "windows to the world" Maher tells us, while promoting his own; hmm, odd thing to say, considering theoretically we live in the world--why would we only see it when framed through small holes cut by others?

"Man on Wire" wins, which is great, since I actually saw and liked it. And up runs Philippe Petit, who the film's about; the shortest speech in Oscars history "Yesss." Then he keeps on talking, amkes a coin disappear, balances the Oscar on his chin, makes it bow; the man's frenetic, and absolutely unique.

-The winner of Heath Ledger's award, Best Supporting Actor, is about to be revealed. I didn't see the film so no idea how much of this is sentiment, but he wins, of course. Everyone stands as his parents and sister come up. Hmmm, no wife? Let's see if they dedicate it to the fire victims in Australia.

Audience is pitch-quiet as his dad thanks people. It's a classy speech by the dad, Kim; now his mom says they're choosing to celebrate; and his sister says they accept the award on behalf of his daughter.

It could've been a moment for the ages--his death reminds us of the death of hundeds in Australia... but nothing like that.

-Somehow Cuba Gooding Jr. is allowed back on stage, makes fun of Robert Downey Jr. for playing Tropic Thunder in blackface.

-Matt Kenseth takes the Auto Club 500, 3rd driver in history to win Daytona and the next race. Nice job.

-4 to go, Gordon's right front tire is smoking announcers say. They've been on top of that for a while; NASCAR announcers are great, entertaining and knowledgable.

-6 laps to go, Kenseth and Gordon are about to lap some of the slower-cars, again....

-10 laps to go, Kenseth's lead looks to have expanded even more. Announcers think Gordon has one more run in it, Busch now 6 seconds back. Now just hope some idiot back in the pack doesn't crash for nothing.

-Oscars are doing some idiot musical spoof with Jackman and Beyonce, so I'm still watching NASCAR.

-Kenseth and Gordon are waaaay out in front of the rest of the pack, 3.5 seconds ahead of Busch. 19 laps to go. Wow, with 15 to go Kenseth has really put down the hammer, his lead is up.

-Toyland wins best live action short, continuing the well-known rule that if you wanna win an Oscar, make something about the Holocaust. Wow, the director says he spent "4 years of my life on this 14 minute movie."

-There's some sort of skit with white stoner guys making fun of a bunch of films, it's probably funny to certain frat boys but kindof weird given that the films are all up for Best Picture. It goes on waaaay too long and is just dumb; yup, they have time for this, but cut off Oscar winners halfway through their speeches.

-Oscars take a second to thank the winners of the Academy's Scientific and Technical awards, handed out two weeks ago without TV coverage.

-36 laps to go, still under yello; Kyle Busch trying to win his third race of the weekend, which would be historic, Matt Kenseth leading though, after taking Daytona; folowed by Jeff Gordon. Lots of big names in the top 10....

-Anthony Dod Mantle wins best cinematography for Slum Dog Millionaire; it was shot really well, he takes a wry British shot at Natalie and Ben, "I found that really inspiring". The audience at least has stopped laughing. I like Mantle, seems like a normal guy; thanks his "ma and pa".

-Whoah, Natalie Portman comes out with a Phoenixish Ben Stiller, with the wild hair and crazy beard and shades. She looks great in a purple dress. It totally detracts from the cinematography intro, the audience is just cackling. "You look like you work in a Hasidic meth lab," she says. It's really quite stupid and insulting as she starts cracking up and the audience too as Stiller wanders the stage as each of the nominated films is described.

-Hugh Jackman's been a boring host so far; it's like an extended presentation slot.

-Flip out of the Oscars' cheesy romantic montage or something back to NASCAR on Fox; the race is down the road from the theater in Hollywood, there's another yellow, lots of little rain delays tonight. Nice counter-programming.

-Domo Arrigato, Mr. Robot says Japanese filmmaker Kunio Kato after winning the best animated short for "La Maison En Peitits Cubes." (Of course the LATime's snarky blog, The Envelope, doesn't mention Kato's name or even the full name of the short--it only quotes a voter dumping on the film. Hollywood; where the establishment speaks for the rest of the world).

-Simon Beaufoy of "Slumdog Millionaire" wins Best Adapted Screenplay; hopefully this is a good sign for the film. Although my nightmare would be all the whites involved with the film winning and speaking, while the South Asians get shut out.

-Penelope Cruz wins for best supporting actress; she's one of my favorite actors, thanks Woody Allen in her speech for writing good roles for women.