"Whacking me with the handsomest bludgeon in town."

8:06 p.m.: You know, even though he’s not nominated for anything, here’s betting Barack Obama wins something tonight. Because, you know, he’s just on such a hot streak.

8:09 p.m.: “Atonement” gets one. For Best Original Score.

8:12 p.m.: Soldiers in Baghdad present the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject to “Freeheld.” The soldiers aren’t on hand to present the Best Documentary Feature, probably because so many of the nominees are critical of the war. “Taxi to the Dark Side” wins. Which naturally gives us our first political acceptance speech of the night: Who’d’ve ever thought that it’d be considered provocative to speak out against torture?

8:23 p.m.: "Movies are made of ideas and pictures and words,” Harrison Ford informs us.

8:25 p.m.: It’s now official: Diablo Cody will be the first person in history whose obit will include the phrase “former stripper/Academy Award winner.” She’s been gabbing it up all over the place, and has become something of a divisive character splitting those who find her a charming free-spirit and those who find her a manufactured irritant, but how many screenwriters manage a cult of personality? And winning the Oscar seems to have silenced her a little bit and elicited a genuine emotional moment. Each of the Best Picture nominees has won at least one Oscar at this point.

8:33 p.m.: Daniel Day-Lewis shocks the world by predictably winning the Best Actor Oscar for “There Will Be Blood.” He thanks the Academy for "whacking me with the handsomest bludgeon in town."