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Omar Quadhafi is hunkering down in Tripoli giving press interviews denying that rebels are taking over Eastern Libya. Oil prices are shooting over one hundred dollars a barrel. The US government is on the verge of a shut down. These are not the top secret opening lines to Aaron Sorkin’s new script, but the global headlines of a world spinning out of control. I head to Los Angeles like an overdressed lemming to attend the 83™? Academy Awards and attempt to make sense of artists thrust into combat. For the second year nearly 6,000 Academy members have nominated 10 films and the battle is down to two. The beloved timeless classic, "The King's Speech" marches into the arena as the front runner, but passionate supporters of the brilliant edgier (and critics darling) "The Social Network" have not conceded. The ballots are counted, the party invites are out and still the feelings are raw. Filmmakers are exhausted from campaigning. At Bryan Lourd's famous star studded party Sony Classics’ Co-President Michael Barker announces to me he has taken a random sampling of voters in the room. He says, "There will be a ‘Social Network' upset at the Kodak Theater." Shear panic radiates from my every pore as he says, "I am joking." It's like color war at summer camp. Woody Allen and George Lucas tell me they are no longer members of the Academy because pitting artists against each other to determine the quality of their work is insane. They are right. My event and publicity company is considered "Switzerland" by the studios, as we help every filmmaker to present and position his work. This year I am somewhat emotionally sucked in. In 2005 I meet the unknown 32-year-old English director Tom Hooper on his first film for HBO,"Elizabeth I". The Emmy award winning movie stars Helen Mirren, who takes credit for discovering him directing English television. Helen later wins her Oscar for portraying Queen Elizabeth in “The Queen”. Queen Elizabeth is the daughter of King George VI portrayed by Oscar winner Colin Firth in "The King's Speech". I also become Hooper's champion encouraging many to see his early work including his herculean 1@ hour HBO mini-series "John Adams" produced by Tom Hanks. Six years later at the Telluride Film Festival Tom Hooper is bathing in the glory of a hysterical standing ovation with Colin Firth and Geoffrey Rush at the very first screening of "The King's Speech." Surprisingly, HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_012690