We spread out on a blanket on the living room floor with some pillows, my dog, Una, some microbrewed beer and chocolate covered raisins to watch the ceremony.

One thing was back to normal: red carpet arrivals took place again. Last year they were canceled out of respect for the recently launched war in Iraq. I had, however, watched streaming video of the arrivals at Oscar.com.

Billy Crystal returned as the host, making the sort of good-natured jokes and affectionate teasing for which he's known, as well as a little topical humor. One of his most amusing running jokes was about the night's big winner, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, which captured 11 awards, tying with Ben-Hur and Titanic for the most ever .

After several such awards, Billy Crystal came out and said they were running out of people to thank in New Zealand. A little later, he said they'd run out of New Zealanders to thank and were going to have to start over. And the capper was when he said, after yet another award, that people were now moving to New Zealand just to be thanked.

Despite the fact that they decided this year to give award winners as much time as they liked for their acceptance speeches, the ceremony kept moving along smoothly and didn't feel like it was dragging.

This year they had far fewer montages, unlike last year, when they were celebrating 75 years of the Oscars. There were a few, of course, such as the typical "In Memoriam" montage, as well as one in memory of Bob Hope and one in memory of Katharine Hepburn.

And of course, there was a montage for the award honoring director Blake Edwards. In the history of the Oscars, there hasn't been a more spectacular entrance for a special award than that made by Blake Edwards.

In keeping with the Pink Panther movies he directed, Blake Edwards was seated in a wheelchair with his foot propped up, in a large cast. With his gray hair and delicate build, he looked very much like a frail old man.

After the introduction by Jim Carrey, Blake Edwards began to roll forward when his wheelchair zoomed across the stage at high speed and crashed through a fake wall, Jim Carrey running after him screaming, "Oh, my God! What a terrible thing to happen on his big night."

Jim Carrey helped him out through the wall, and despite the fact that he was now wearing a torn and dusty coat, Blake Edwards looked spry and agile, clearly in good health. This was a real trick on the audience, who are accustomed to seeing frail, elderly people receiving special Oscars for lifetime achievement. The visual joke was also entirely in keeping with his body of work.

His speech, too, was entertaining. He said that when he'd thought about the people responsible for getting him where he was today, he thought about a man who worked on one of his earliest films. This intrepid worker's job was to clean up after the elephants, and as he did it each day, he would sing, "There's no business like show business."

And this, he said, made him think about how important everyone had been to his career, from the lowliest position to the highest, to the moral support of his talented wife, Julie Andrews (whom he directed in Victor/Victoria).

The good-natured spirit typified by Blake Edwards was present all through the ceremony, including some gentle teasing references to two of the noteworthy moments from last year's ceremony: Michael Moore's speech and Adrian Brody's kiss.

Instead of a big musical number, the opening sequence was a video featuring Billy Crystal as a character in a number of the nominated films. Michael Moore agreed to make a cameo appearance to make a joke about last year's speech. He showed up in a battle scene from Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, shouting, "Shame on you! This is a fictitious war!" He was then stomped on by an Oliphant, which didn't receive nearly the applause you might have expected. Perhaps people's views on the war, as with Bill O'Reilly's, have changed significantly.

You have to give Michael Moore credit for being willing to do that, acknowledging that his speech last year was out-of-hand, taking the sting out of it by lampooning himself.

Adrian Brody, similarly, made a joking reference to his overly enthusiastic kiss last year of presenter Halle Berry when he won Best Actor. As he stepped onto the stage to announce Best Actress, he said, "Don't worry. They have a restraining order against me."

But just before he announced the winner of the Best Actress award, he sprayed his mouth with mint. This could have been particularly funny if 13-year-0ld Keisha Castle-Hughes had won. However, winner Charlize Theron played along and gave him a peck on the lips as she took the award.

For Best Actor, there were two leading contenders, Bill Murray for Lost in Translation and Sean Penn for Mystic River. When they showed the clips from those movies, it became clear who would win. Oscar voters are suckers for those "Oscar moments," and Sean Penn had quite a few, moments of overwrought emotion, screaming and crying. Bill Murray's role was very different, but that subtlety made it a great role.

Afterward Sean Penn took the award, Billy Crystal came on and said, "Bill, don't go. Don't go, Bill. We love you." Bill gave a warm smile, as if he'd needed to hear that.

Although she couldn't win Best Director in the midst of the Lord of the Rings blowout, Lost in Translation director Sofia Coppolla made her daddy proud by taking home a well-deserved Best Original Screenplay award.

Few people were surprised that Lord of the Rings: Return of the King won Best Film. It's the sort of epic movie the Academy loves, and the craftsmanship of it was absolutely excellent, from the script adaptation to the acting to the design and cinematography. Everything about this movie was just gorgeous. And it had a wonderful message about pulling together.

If you had to categorize the Oscar ceremony last night, that's what it felt like. It felt like Hollywood had reunited and that the tension that existed last year had dissipated in favor of a spirit of cooperation.

This goes right down to the outfits people wore. It was almost as if someone had sent out a memo that the men should go for very basic suits, with small touches of style, like velvet lapels, and white shirts with white or silver ties. Many of the women, especially the presenters, opted for classic looks in white, silver or light pastels.

A lot of the woman literally left their hair down in long, soft ringlets, like a visual example of a relaxation in the absence of last year's tension.

The beautiful performances of the Best Song nominees were all exceptional, with a special joy behind the performance of "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow," with Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara, in character from A Mighty Wind. They got a lot of deserving applause when they kissed at a key point in the song. That movie is a becoming a real cult favorite among movie buffs, who even tossed around the idea of nominating Levy for a Best Supporting Actor award for being the emotional center of a gentle parody of folk rock.

Many people had worried what the highly political Tim Robbins or Sean Penn might say if they won. Both of them won and both were classy on-stage.

Tim Robbins wore a peace pin on his lapel, but he didn't use his moment in the limelight to grandstand. Instead, he noted that he had won for portraying a character who had been a victim of abuse, and he urged anyone under similar circumstances to seek help.

Likewise, antiwar activist Sean Penn only made passing reference to the war in Iraq, saying, "If there's one thing that actors know, other than that there weren't any WMDs — it's that there is no such thing as best in acting." He won some appreciative laughter and applause from the audience, who probably respected him all the more for not abusing his time on stage.

Rather than polarizing on one side of the issue or another, it seems as if Hollywood, like the nation, has come to realize that it's a complicated issue. It probably also doesn't hurt that this is an election year, and people may figure that it's best to let the American public make their choice over whether to stick with the leader we have or opt for a new leader and new solutions.

All in all, the 2004 Oscars ceremony felt light, airy and relaxed, compared to last year's weighty, emotional ceremony. Whether we can thank everybody's favorite lighthearted host, Billy Crystal, or the zeitgeist of the spirit of cooperation in The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, it's hard to say. But either way, it was a welcome return to the glitzy, fun celebrations of old.

Moral:
What's so funny about peace, love and understanding? Everything.