Sean Penn hits the press room and arrives to applause, then talks about Milk, giving major props to Gus Van Sant for making the film great. "This is a classic case of the director creating an environment." He talks about how It feels like false humility, but this is one of those cases where the movie "feels top to bottom shared." He also makes a crack about age: "Every time I do a movie, I re-learn how much older I am getting by the crows feet on the screen."

The show may be over but we're still hoping for press room visits from other winners such as Hugh Laurie and Sally Field. Once the winners finish their speeches on stage, they run the gauntlet of press backstage at the Shrine, starting with the one-on-one room, so called because it is the actor with the host or hosts of individual shows, those such as Entertainment Tonight, as well as various Webcasts now. That's not easy duty because we're talking about 10 or so outlets. Then they go to a room full of photographers, where they stand and pose for all those pictures that will appear here and all over the internet and print venues tomorrow. Finally, they come to my room, the room full of dozens of print and online reporters, aka "the print pit."

Photo by Dan MacMedan/USA Today