Complete list of winners at the 79th annual Academy Awards, presented Sunday night at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles:

Best Motion Picture: "The Departed"

Lead Actor: Forest Whitaker, "The Last King of Scotland"

Lead Actress: Helen Mirren, "The Queen"

Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin, "Little Miss Sunshine"

Supporting Actress: Jennifer Hudson, "Dreamgirls"

Directing: Martin Scorsese, "The Departed"

Foreign Language Film: "The Lives of Others," Germany

Adapted Screenplay: William Monahan, "The Departed"

Original Screenplay: Michael Arndt, "Little Miss Sunshine"

Animated Feature Film: "Happy Feet"

Art Direction: "Pan's Labyrinth"

Cinematography: "Pan's Labyrinth"

Sound Mixing: "Dreamgirls"

Sound Editing: "Letters From Iwo Jima"

Original Score: "Babel," Gustavo Santaolalla

Original Song: "I Need to Wake Up" from "An Inconvenient Truth," Melissa Etheridge

Costume: "Marie Antoinette"

Documentary Feature: "An Inconvenient Truth"

Documentary Short Subject: "The Blood of Yingzhou District"

Film Editing: "The Departed"

Makeup: "Pan's Labyrinth"

Animated Short Film: "The Danish Poet"

Live Action Short Film: "West Bank Story"

Visual Effects: "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"

I wonder if losing sting a more when you have three horses in a race of five (best original song) and you still come home with bupkis as "Dreamgirls" songwriters Henry Krieger and Scott Cutler did.

The contenders…Listen, Love You I Do, and Patience
vs.
Melissa Etheridge's winning song which deftly rhymes "Inconvenient Truth" with "carelessness of youth" but otherwise is pretty standard stuff for her.
And, of course, Mr. Randy Newman (in cruise control) for "Our Town" from "Cars."
You know to this day, whenever I come across Three Amigos (co-written by Newman) I flip to and fro in hope of catching "The Singing Bush" voiced by Newman.
Hilariously stupid…easily, best part of the film.

Randy Newman is the Sheryl Crow of the Oscars.
If he writes a song that appears in a film, particularly an animated film..you can bet your bippy that it's gonna be nominated…17 noms, baby (15 before a win for “If I Didn’t Have You” from Monsters Inc. in 2K1).

Randy postponed his Akron show due to illness but he pulled it together for Oscar.

He'll be back.

…the band that performs….WINS!
The Chili's receive the best Rock Album of the Year.
Whatever.

The Dixie Chicks Lovefest is official.
Good for them, it's been a rough couple years and you gotta appreciate the fact they weathered the storm, suffered the consequences and kept moving.
The song shouldn't have won.
"Crazy" was definitely a better single, and I think a more memorable song, though the personal angle of The Chicks tune is powerful.
It just didn't have the 3 yeas of baggage that The Chicks and Not Ready To Make Nice brought to the table.

It's the Red Hot Chili Peppers….Again I ask, where is the Rock?
Flea's amp gives props..well, "love" to Ornette Coleman.
He's a respectful young man.

Ludacris brought two suits.
Mary J. Blige brought two heads of hair.

Say, where is the RAWK?!
Active, classic, hard, metal.. Where are the Foo Fighters or Nickelback or OK GO or (Grammy winners) Wolfmother or The Raconteurs.
I know the Red Hot Chili Peppers are coming but they aren't nearly as interesting as they used to be and that's just one full on rock band in quite a while.

AAAARRRRGGGHHH!!!!
You know talking to James Blunt before his Cleveland show, he seemed like reasonably nice guy. And he didn't seem bothered by the backlash
basically, considering it a sign of success when people want to punch you in the face because of your song.

Mary J. never skimps on the emotion.

That Carrie Underwood's a cute kid, ain't she?

Look I don't like Rascall Flatts, OK?
I'm not a big a country fan to begin with and that slick country pop like the stuff R.F. does is the worst of it.
And they screwed up the guitar solo to Hotel California.
Life In The Fast Lane was better.

ORNETTE COLEMAN?
Nice Suit..

BEST NEW ARTIST - Carrie Underwood.
Hmmm, John Mayer performed and he won….Carrie Underwood performs and she won…..C..O..N..SPIRACY?
Underwood did NOT forget American Idol or 19 Management.

Hey it's Sam Jackson and Christina Ricci from Black Snake Moan which features a song by the Black Keys!

Smokey, Lionel and Chris - Last year a very good Smokey/Miracles compilation came out called Oooo Baby Baby:The Anthology that covers 1958 to 1971 and includes all the hits, of course. But the surprise is some of the later stuff on the second half of disc two after the big hits were done in the late 60s.
Good stuff.

How's Chris Brown going to sing his songs after he grows some short & curlies.

JAMES BROWN TRIBUTE
Christina Aguilera - This Is A Man's World - She is quite a performer that tiny being with the big lungs….She went for it…waaaay high..a little too high…I think James would approve.
Wait. That's It?
JAMES BROWN - THE GODFATHER OF FRICKIN' SOUL DIES AND HE GETS ONE SONG AND THE EAGLES GET THREE?
That's just wrong.
Nothing against the Eagles (well, maybe a little) but we're talkinga bout JAMES BROWN - The architect of Funk! The man whose music provided the backbeat to generations even BEFORE sampling.

Call me naive, but I actually didn't think the Dixie Chicks would get Song of the YEAR.
Yeah, I know the whole-West-Coast-lefty-artist empowerment-the-red-states-were-mean-to-Chicks empathy thing is in effect. But you couldn't escape that damn "You're Beautiful" Song and video for the better part of the year and I figured the repetition would nail it for for the former Navel Officer.

I guess The Chicks win gives us an idea about Mary J.'s chances for Record Of The Year, eh?

Ooooooooh…all that smooth, pretty R&B and Album Adult Alternative makes me want to go to my nearest STARBUCK'S (I think they just opened a new franchise up the street, in the bathroom of the STARBUCK'S franchise that's already there) order a half calf, decalf mochachino and write in my journal….

The Legend/Rae show at the Civic is going to be a good show.
Seriously, bring a date.

Best Male Pop Vocal Performance - John Mayer = Aaaah, the S.U.V. voters wins again. He beat Legend (Save Room), James Blunt ( You're Beautiful), Daniel Powter (Bad Day) and even MACCA (Jenny Wren)
I prefer Legend but better Mayer than those other two ubiquitous tunes

I'm new at this blogging thing, can you tell?

By the way, Shakira can't sing.

Wow!
I'm Shocked!
Just like every member of his sizeable band, all three of the contestants for the SING WITH JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE contest are brown.
I'm not hatin' and I surely like to see black musicians working in any band.
I'm just sayin'……coincidence?
The singing in the camera thing is lifted straight from the tour only the film is projected onto the big sheets that surround the stage. In concert J.T. gives "her" the finger at the end of this lil' rant and all the ladies go WAAAAAAAHHH!!!! GIVE ME THE FINGER J.T.!!

MARY J BLIGE = 2

CONGRATULATIONS TO SLAYER on their GRAMMY WIN for BEST METAL PERFORMANCE for Eyes Of The Insane from their 2006 album CHRIST ILLUSION.
Beating out their metal progeny including Lamb of God, Mastodon, Stone Sour and uh…Ministry? Al Jourgensen is still alive?
That album slipped under my radar.

"LADIES & GENTLEMEN! WE ARE THE POLICE AND WE'RE BACK!"
So theoretically, this is the big moment we've been waiting for.
The Return of THE POLICE.
Andy, Sting and Stu!
Wow, the shirtless vest thing always says Rock N Roll.
That's a pretty groovy dub arrangement of Roxanne.
Well, that's it. Let's get ready for the tour. Will they come to Cleveland?
Let's see if Stu and Sting can set aside their clashing personalities and hefty egos and make a gargantuan mound of money.
Tony Bennett and Stevie Wonder hanging out together in the audience and they won.
POP COLLABO W/VOX - Tony Bennett and Stevie Wonder
Our first award and our Musical Hook…

I'm no fashion maven but that big poofy white dress Natalie Maines is wearing is not flattering.
But Emily Robison wielding the Telecaster in heels and a $3000 mini skirt is strangely alluring in a 1980's Robert Palmer "Simply Irrisistible" video female automaton kind of way..except more so because Robison is actually playing.

Less than 15 minutes on air and we've had two musical performances.
Awards Schmawards

Prince is everywhere ain't he?

Hey! It's Beyonce!
And her see thru dress!!
I've never been one for show tunes even ones with a taste of ersatz Motown as the backdrop, but she sang it well.