Golden Globes Live Blog

The West Coast Golden Globes live blog starts here in a few minutes...I hope the celebs are busy getting good and drunk.

8:02 PM - From the star-filled International Ballroom at the Beverly Hilton...things kick off with George Clooney presenting Best Supporting Actress to Jennifer Hudson. Nice speech and I'm glad to see her win. I notice American Idol wasn't part of her acceptance speech. Should Beyonce get an acting award for getting teary eyed?

8:06 PM - Justin Timberlake presents Best Song to Prince, who's not there, so JT pretends to be as short as Prince and says thanks on his behalf. There goes his chance at getting his vocals on a Prince-penned song like "Sugar Walls" or "Manic Monday".

8:11 PM - Miss Golden Globe is introduced. It's Lorraine Nicholson, daughter of Jack Nicholson and Rebecca Broussard. It was her conception that broke up Jack and Anjelica. She's a beautiful girl, and Jack looks very much the proud papa. Jeremy Irons wins for best supporting actor in a TV series and seems to have borrowed his wardrobe from Pirates of the Carribbean.

8:26 PM - What's harder to find - someone who cares what the Hollywood Foreign Press guy has to say, or Renee Zelwegger's eyes?

8:33 - Hugh Laurie wins for House. I've never seen his show so I can't judge, but I was hoping Bill Paxton or Michael C. Hall would win. Still, Hugh gets points for an amusing speech, especially the gag about wishing designers would have offered him a free acceptance speech.

8:42 PM - If Charlie Sheen lets his hair grow a little longer, he could play Robert Smith in a Cure biopic.

8:46 PM - Cars wins Best Animated Film, a new category for the Globes. The director Steve Lassiter (left) is rather, um, animated.

8:47 PM - Yay! Meryl Streep wins for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical. I doubt she'll be able to beat Helen or Dame Judy on Oscar night but she definitely deserved some recognition for her great performance in The Devil Wears Prada. She was able to humanize a character that was completely cartoonish in the book. This was the rare exception where the movie was way better than the book, largely due to the acting (and the wardrobe helped, too). Nice speech, too, and plea for wider distribution of little films.

9:02 PM - Eddie Murphy wins Best Supporting Actor. As a Jack fan, I'm disappointed, but I guess Jack has enough awards. I need to see Dreamgirls. I spy Prince in the crowd. Was he stuck in traffic when his name was called earlier? Or was he in the toilet like Christine Lahti?

9:11 PM - Reese Witherspoon is sitting dangerously close to Jack. He will surely offer to help her rebound from Ryan. Nice to see Bill Nighy and Helen Mirren win awards.

9:18 PM - It looks like Cameron Diaz has a toilet brush tucked into her dress. Why do so many of these up-dos look sloppy? I wish they'd show scenes from these nominated movies instead of trailers.

9:23 PM - Another odd couple - Jack Nicholson and Sean Combs - aka Proud Daddy and Puff Daddy. Glad to see Alec Baldwin win.

9:31 PM - It's mildly surprising to see Ugly Betty win Best TV Comedy. I would have voted for The Office, but my ballot must have gotten lost in the mail.

9:38 PM - Clint picks up the Best Foreign Film award for Letters from Iwo Jima and quips "You don't know what this does for my confidence", aping Jennifer Hudson's speech.

9:46 PM - Mystery solved courtesy of Hugh Grant. Prince was stuck in traffic. How very LA! Now he gets to take a bow. America Ferarra wins Best Actress in a Comedy TV Series. Nice speech, and if you haven't seen Real Women Have Curves, rent it.

9:58 PM - Tom Hanks presents the Cecil B. Demille award to Warren Beatty. Warren looks very squinty. The montage is a bit long and so is the speech, but good crack about getting Arnold to become a Democrat.

10:24 PM - Martin Scorsese wins Best Director. Let's hope this is an indicator he'll finally win the big one and stop being the Susan Lucci of the Oscars.

10:27 PM - Reese Witherspoon joins tonight's club of Actresses with Messy Hair as she presents Best Actor in a Comedy to Sacha Baron Cohen. He's actually a good-looking guy - what a difference a moustache can make. Not surprisingly, he gets the Golden Globe for funniest speech of the night for his detailed recounting of his nude wrestling scene and thanking every American who hasn't sued him.

10:37 PM - Dreamgirls wins Best Comedy or Musical. Nothing surprising there, except that I have nothing negative to say about J. Lo's appearance - nice hair and classy dress.

10:43 PM - The Cox-Arquettes present Best TV Series - Drama to Grey's Anatomy. Philip Seymour Hoffman in a Borat moustache presents Best Actress in a Dramatic Motion Picture to the richly deserving Helen Mirren for The Queen. I just watched this movie for the second time last night and I was again impressed by her performance. She manages to convey so much while keeping a stiff upper lip.

10:52 PM - Forest Whitaker wins Best Actor in a Drama, beating out Leo who was nominated twice in this category. He's speechless. He's got a great body of work, so I'm glad to see him get some recognition.

11:00 PM - Alec Baldwin claps sarcastically for Arnold. Babel wins. Could it be this year's Crash?

The show ends, just a few minutes late. I guess this makes Dreamgirls and Babel the Oscar frontrunners for Best Picture. I have to say the Globes were short on drunken hijinks this year, but long on close-ups and references to Jack, and that's entertaining for me at least.