By Jay A. Fernandez

Last night, “The Daily Show” did a typically brilliant segment conflating the Iraqi parliamentary elections with Oscar night. The second half of this clip, at the Huffington Post, features Jon Oliver giving a hilarious acceptance speech with regard to our involvement in Iraq (and Samantha Bee bullies in right on time).

By Jay A. Fernandez

Every public event has its quirks and misfires, its head-scratching moments and gleeful absurdities. The Oscars inevitably has its share.

And I’d like to take this opportunity to remind you of just how many there were.

Indeed, so much misguided flailing made its way onstage that I have to limit this to just 10 or I’ll still be writing when next year’s ceremony starts.

By Jay A. Fernandez

While the Oscars ceremony played much like a film directed by show co-producer Adam Shankman — cozy, a bit precious and pretty tame — there were some great unexpected lines delivered from the stage. Here are my favorites, but I invite you to send in your own nominations.

Steve Martin, during the opening bit with co-host Alec Baldwin, referred to Meryl Streep’s record for most acting Oscar nominations: “Or as I like to think of it: most losses.”

Baldwin, during the opening, described Gabourey Sidibe’s character in “Precious” as being told she’s worthless and that nobody likes her. Then: “Hey, I’m with CAA, too!”

By Jay A. Fernandez and Lesley Goldberg

Well, the drizzle threatens to dampen dresses outside the Kodak Theatre, but the air seems to crackle as always in the run-up to this most glamorous and ludicrous of awards shows. Before we get to the meat of the ceremony, THR staffer Lesley Goldberg is manning the press bleachers out front, feeding me chatter from the carpet arrivals.

Here are some of her dispatches:

By Jay A. Fernandez

I’ve been wanting to get this up since Thursday night, when the Writers Guild held its annual star-studded Beyond Words panel, but too many events piled up. The WGA’s awards-season closer turned out to be a bizarre laugh-riot that managed to skirt almost completely any discussion of the craft of writing.

In attendance were James Cameron (”Avatar”), Jon Lucas & Scott Moore (”The Hangover”), Scott Neustadter (”(500) Days of Summer”), Mark Boal (”The Hurt Locker”), Alex Kurtzman (”Star Trek”), Geoffrey Fletcher (”Precious”), Scott Cooper (”Crazy Heart”) and Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner (”Up in the Air”). Missing were Nora Ephron (”Julie & Julia”), Roberto Orci (”Star Trek”), Michael H. Weber (”(500) Days of Summer”) and Joel and Ethan Coen (”A Serious Man”).

By Jay A. Fernandez

More than a few people have been wondering about this off-the-grid political satire “In the Loop,” which has been scoring award nominations for its screenplay. IFC Films picked up the feature after last year’s Sundance Film Festival, where it premiered, and the indie outfit wants Academy voters to give the script a read before their votes are due March 2.

You’re welcome to take a gander yourself.

The adapted screenplay, written by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Tony Roche and Armando Iannucci, who also directed, has drawn best screenplay nominations from BAFTA, the London critics, the Chicago critics and the Academy. The British Independent Film Awards and the New York Film Critics Circle awarded it best screenplay honors.

And here’s a special note from Iannucci about the script.

By Borys Kit

How did the major agencies do in today’s Oscar-nomination frenzy? Let’s take a gander. (They just love it when we do this.)

But first, some asterisks:

By Jay A. Fernandez

It’s an unpleasant business, but calling attention to those talents overlooked for deserving Oscar recognition is a standard part of the awards circus. And this year has its share of snubbed also-also-rans. Well, according to me.

First in my mind are Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber for their “(500) Days of Summer“ original screenplay (and not just because I was wrong in predicting its inclusion). Their peers in the writers guild honored it with a nomination, and it represented a truly original take on a worn-out genre that delighted a lot of viewers and inspired a rookie director, Marc Webb, to show off his talents. On the other hand, original screenplay was an unexpectedly tight field for a change, and only five could fit, so Neustadter and Weber will have to make another run at it down the road.