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Independent Spirit Awards take off

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We can't wait until Sarah Silverman gets to host the Oscars. Would she make jokes about the freshness of her vagina, like she does in the opening monologue of the Independent Spirit Awards today? She kicks things off saying George Clooney "has proved himself both artsy and fartsy," and "Felicity Huffman, I am such a huge fan of his."

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The Independent Spirit Awards are happneing right now, in Satna Monica, at 2 in the afternoon Pacific time. Early for an awards show. And they're all in a tent. And the damn Oscars are tomorrow. Why do people show up? Maybe because it feels like a happy, slightly dysfunctional family. Peter Gallagher continues the vastly goofy tradition of singing a song for a best picture nominee, for Brokeback Mountain, to the tune of "On Top of Old Smokey."

The first award, for best supporting actress, goes to Amy Adams for Junebug, which may actually be an Oscar predictor. Best First Screenplay goes to Duncan Tucker for Transamerica, Best Screenplay to Dan Futterman for Capote.

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The ceremony is shooting for odd presenter pairings: first Billy Baldwin and Sandra Oh, then Julie Delpy and Vin Diesel. Virginia Madsen [who drops the F word] and Aaron Eckhart, who come out eating popcorn (hmm, Popsecret is a sponsor) and cracking unscripted jokes.

Best supporting actor goes to Matt Dillon for Crash. Just as we're thinking he's too big for these awards, he busts out the charm, "the copy that Barry Pepper played in that film [the Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada] is a bigger ass hole than the cop that I played."

Sarah Silverman again: "By the way, is Duncan Tucker a funny name for a guy who wrote a movie about transsexuals?" More on the Independent Spirit Awards later.

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