Patrick Stoner welcomes your questions about movies and the men and women who make them. Send your questions to pstoner@whyy.org.

Here's the current question and answer...

Q: How were the Academy Awards this year?

Let's not try to pretend this isn't fun. Almost all of us fell in love with the Oscars® when we were kids--I've often said that I don't want to know anybody who hasn't imagined thanking their parents or loved ones in an Oscar® speech. Once a year, about a billion of us tune in to see the Academy Awards around the world. If I hadn't been there as part of the television media covering the event, I would have been part of that billion-person audience.

So, what was it like? Well, there are four areas with very different personalities. There's the horde of spectators beyond the security lines that you must make your way through to get into the site at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Then, there's the red carpet area--the site everyone knows from television where all those mikes are stuck in celebrities' faces. (That's the world of controlled chaos.) It's noisy, crowded and tense.

But, everyone has their assigned space, so it's not as anarchic as it may appear on the tube. Nonetheless, it's my least favorite place to be, so I get away from there as soon as my taping and satellite chores are done.

Ah, inside...past an entirely separate set of security barriers (requiring additional credentials), everything is quiet, cool and quietly glamorous. People stroll in their tuxedoes and gowns, chatting quietly--while the helicopters circle overhead, and all electronic eyes turn increasingly on this one building. Finally, there's the backstage area, where the incredibly elaborate live production is organized, dressed and--virtually flawlessly-- executed on stage. That's also the location of the media area--print and radio--in one large room; television in a much smaller one--where the winners hold their Oscars® and answer questions.

So, what was it like THIS year? Excellent! This was a good year for a variety of reasons: The winners were never clear (several categories could have easily moved in different directions without surprise); the Quincy Jones production was innovative and interesting; there were several emotional highs--Kirk Douglas, Mira Sorvino and her dad, the Holocaust survivor, and Christopher Reeve in one of the moments that will be remembered for decades as an Oscar® high point.

I wasn't bothered by any of the winners, even those that were different from my personal picks. Some, like Kevin Spacey, were my second choices, but they handled their success with such class and humor that you couldn't begrudge them anything.

When the production clicks as well as this one did--including a rejuvenated Whoopi Goldberg, it sparks a definite mood. Last year, there was a bored, even embarrassed feeling. This year, there was genuine excitement. You felt like you were at the opening night of a surefire Broadway hit.

More than all of this, though, was the emotion. I'm constantly bothered by the misconception that actors and other creative types are simply "overindulged egos" with shallow attitudes and few values. My experience is just the opposite: I would trust my loved ones with these people more readily than with any other group in society. There are nasty exceptions to the rule, but the reaction to Christopher Reeve in his wheelchair and the dignity portrayed was both real and spontaneous. It continued long after the cameras went off and the commercials went on. It spoke not only to the best part of those famous people on camera but also to the best part in all of us who shared that moment. One of the ways people define their communal values is at these very public, ritualized events. I was deeply pleased to be there last night as a part of the community in that building and the larger one beyond.

I love going to the Oscars®. I always take along that boy inside of me who first watched them on a black and white TV in Woodstock, Virginia, many years ago.

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