As usual, I stayed up and watched the Oscars. There's been varying quality over the years, both in the winners and the show itself, but with the field wide open and with lots of material at his finger tips, there were some genuine surprises in the winners and Jon Stewart did a fine job of blending politics and cinema ("... usually when there's a female or black president, there's a asteroid about to hit the Earth").

Having missed a couple of the big hitters this year, my attention was on the smaller films vying for attention and - lo and behold - they did themselves proud. Once - a film that will either restore your faith in romance or at least in film-making on a budget - won the Best Song with the exquisite 'Falling Slowly' which was prformed live by the film's two leads Glen Hansard and Irglova (only losing a little without the context of its place in the film). Hansard was quite visibly stunned by the little-film-that-could's win and graciously thanked everyone (Stewart quipped 'The arrogance of the man!'), but the 'get-off-stage' music piped up before Marketa got to say anything. Stewart, ever the professional, brought her back on stage so she could finish. A very clasy move. It was one of those lovely moments that make the evening. Later Juno won for best Original Screenplay, further proof - if it were needed - that this was the year when the awards were about imagination and style rather than big budgets. Which is nice.

(The Once album is so good that I've replaced the one left behind in Denver. Buy it now. No excuses.)

Picture (c) A M P A S