Oscar Liveblog, Part V: The Grand Finale

• Oh, we have to do the screenplays and director and then we have Best Picture. Still, we’re cruising.
• I’d like to hear the speech Tony Kushner would give if he won, but I hope Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana win for “Brokeback Mountain.”
• And they do. Very fine. It’s an incredibly faithful adaptation very much in the spirit of the original, which is what makes a satisfying adaptation if you love the original. (Do you hear that, Deborah Whatsyourface?)
• (Moggach.)
• And thank you, Mr. McMurtry, for your tribute to the culture of the book.
• Huh—I mention Aishwarya Rai, who I haven’t thought of much since “Bride and Prejudice” (speaking of promising but ultimately unfortunate Austen adaptations), and there she is in a L’Oreal ad.
• I don’t want to watch this “Sons and Daughters,” and I wish ABC would stop showing me ads for it.
• I’m glad to see Tom Hanks has cut his hair.
• Yes! Ang Lee! I love him. “Sense and Sensibility” is my favorite film ever, and a lot of his films seem to be about love repressed or denied—a theme that perhaps reaches its apogee in “Brokeback Mountain.” (Indeed, S&S is one of his very few with a happy ending.) I’m so pleased for him.
• The drumroll moment, and – “Crash.”
• I don’t really care, though.
• Jeremiah and 2.0: Again, I'm stumped. Eric Hillemann: Kenneth Branagh. David Perry: Samuel L. Jackson.
• The camera just cut to George Clooney, who seemed to be smiling at some secret amusement, and I think that’s much of his allure: You want to be the woman who’s in on the joke, or better still the one who puts that smile on his face.
• Or heck, it could just be he’s the sexiest man alive.
• And we’re through, at 11:26. Good work, Jon Stewart. Thanks for reading all this, those of you who did. Feel free to register your choice of actor for yourself in the comments.
• Good night, and good luck.