Golden Globe Awards

Last night at the Golden Globe Awards was full of a lot of surprises. From Kate Winslet taking home the Best Actress Award for the movie Revolutionary Road to Michael Rourke winning for best actor for his performance in The Wrestler it was quite an interesting night. Other winners included Sally Hawkins for her performance in Happy-Go-Lucky and Colin Farrell for In Bruges. The winner in the category for Best Foreign Film went to the Israeli picture Waltz with Bashir. The incomparable Tina Fey won the prize for Best Actress in a Television Series for the hysterical hit television show 30 Rock. Miss Fey's award was one of three for 30 Rock last night. Alec Baldwin won the award for best actor in a television series and the ultimate award for Best Television Series went to 30 Rock.

Tina Fey is one of the funniest women alive and 30 Rock is not only a great show but is the the show other reality shows should aspire to (note to those other reality shows). The cast is phenomenal and the acting is fresh. Predictably, the best speech of the night came from 30 Rock co-star, Tracy Morgan who noted that he is now the new voice of the show and also the the voice of post-racial America, following the Obama win, "So deal with it Cate Blanchett," he yelled. A huge upset at the awards came in the Best Original Song Category. The award went to Bruce Springsteen for The Wrestler, a sore loss for Gran Torino. A posthumous award went to Heath Ledger for his role in Dark Knight. This is one award that was by no means a pity award. If Heath were still alive I believe he'd have won either way. The night however belonged to Slumdog Millionaire, winning the awards for Best Original Score, Best Screenplay, Best Director, and Best Motion Picture.

Each year since 1952, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the organization responsible for the Golden Globe, has presented the Cecil B. DeMille Award for outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment. The first recipient of the award was Cecil B. DeMille himself in 1952 for his epic film, "The Greatest Show on Earth." Since then, other recipients have included, Sidney Poitier, Sophia Loren, Sean Connery, and other talented entertainers. This year's Award went to Steven Spielberg who credited DeMille's movie for inspiring him to pursue a career in film, after seeing the movie whilst still a six year old lad. Visionary and daring do not even begin to describe Mr. Spielberg. From E.T. to Jurassic Park to Catch Me If You Can, and most importantly Schindler's List, Spielberg has changed the way we make movies.

In his acceptance speech, the ever so articulate Spielberg talked about the benefit of being mentored. He also mentioned something really important; for every movie he has made that was daring, he always asked himself, "Can I get away with this?" He noted that he used his level of anxiety over a movie not resonating with the public -because it was too visionary - as a tool to gauge if it was worth his investment. Thankfully, more times than can be counted, his bold efforts have been rewarded by phenomenal numbers at the box office. All the winners last night deserved their awards and a heartfelt kudos to them all and their work. Now that the organized ruckus called the Golden Globes are over, it's on to the mother of all Award shows; the Academy Awards which airs on February 22 on ABC primetime.