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The Best Animated Short Oscar went to Logorama, a truly...okay, none of us have seen these shorts (or very few of us have). Still, I'm shocked that A Matter of Loaf and Death, the latest Wallace and Gromit short, didn't win, if only because...well, it's Wallace and Gromit. However, Logorama had Ronald McDonald riding a motorcycle consisting of the title of the movie Grease. I'm on board with that. The Best Documentary Short Subject winner is Music by Prudence; again, I didn't see any of the nominees, but that a documentary about GM failing, timely as ever, didn't win, is surprising. Aside from that, the acceptance speech being hijacked was the most entertaining part of this segment.

The winner for Best Live Action Short is The New Tenants. Again, a movie I didn't see, in a category of movies I didn't see. Frankly, at this time in the show, it's usually time to hit the kitchen for snacks. The only sad thing is that Kavi, a film directed by a guest of the great film podcast Battleship Pretension, didn't win.

The winner for Best Makeup (aside from all of us for being present for the Ben Stiller in Avatar gag - ah, if only) is Star Trek. This was easily one of the oddest categories, featuring only one costume drama, and a sci-fi blockbuster took home the gold. I'm not saying Star Trek doesn't deserve the Oscar, but something felt off about this year's winner, if only because it seems to go against tradition. The Best Art Direction Oscar goes to Avatar; perfect synergy here, as the award was presented by Sigourney Weaver. The winners were Rick Carter, Robert Stromberg, and Kim Sinclair. The emotions continued through this acceptance speech, and Avatar itself managed to win an unsurprising award. This honor acknowledged the film's excellent technical prowess, and who's to argue?

The Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar went to Geoffrey Fletcher for his screenplay for the movie Precious. To say that this is a surprise is a bit of an understatement; up until this point, the presumed winner was Up in the Air, co-written and directed by Jason Reitman. Though I'd have loved it if In The Loop or District 9 pulled out a victory, the Precious script won; I'm not the biggest fan of the film, but the script is not the issue I have with the film, or not the most predominant one. So, despite it being a bit unexpected and disappointing, congratulations to Geoffrey Fletcher, for his win and emotional speech.

The award for Best Costume Design went to The Young Victoria and its designer, Sandy Powell. You have to imagine that one of the presenters, Tom Ford, fashion designer and director of A Single Man, was hoping to be nominated in this category, but it wasn't to be. Powell's work was unsurprisingly honored, if only because...well, she worked in a costume drama. These movies always win the awards; it's written in the stars.

The Oscar for Best Sound Editing went to The Hurt Locker; Paul N.J. Ottosson accepted the award for this instantly classic war movie set in Baghdad during the early part of the Iraq War. This award, and the award for Best Sound Mixing, was down to The Hurt Locker and Avatar; it would've been a bigger surprise had neither movie won. Speaking of the award for Best Sound Mixing, that honor went to The Hurt Locker again; Ottosson and Ray Beckett took home this award, effectively destroying any chances Avatar ever had of getting an Oscar sweep in the technical categories. Here also were emotional acceptance speeches; as much as it is frivolous, it's worth noting how much this means for the men and women who win.

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