A great Oscar night

The sixth time was the charm for America's greatest director. Marty Scorsese was finally awarded by the Academy tonight with an Oscar. It's about time. It was great to see him bask in the glory, to hollers and shouts from the audience. Once he reached the stage, he was smiling from ear to ear. He only had a moment to soak it all in backstage, though - The Departed won Best Picture moments later.

I haven't seen The Departed yet, but as I watched Scorsese on stage, I kept thinking of Goodfellas, and how he deserved an Oscar for that movie.

It was also wonderful to see Melissa Etheridge win for her song "I Need to Wake Up" from Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. I noticed a few things when Etheridge won. First, she kissed her partner, Tammy Lynn Michaels. Then, when she reached the stage, she referred to Michaels as "her wife." That was a cool moment, and undoubtedly an important one to many gay people. It's a signal that progress is being made, but we've still got a long way to go before gays are treated like any other American in the courts and in society.