Today’s Big Story

What Went Down at the Oscars

The highs and lows of the 97th Academy Awards

After one of the more unsettled Oscar seasons in recent memory, Sunday’s ceremony aimed for an old-fashioned return to Hollywood form, glamour, and—perhaps most importantly—fun. With the boisterous film fanboy Conan O’Brien at the helm, the show leaned into the kind of excess the production tended to avoid during the snarkier rein of Jimmy Kimmel. People were saying the host evoked some of his delightfully experimental bits from his old late-night show.

So much of the ceremony was effusive to the point of breathlessness, and it did indeed run long and chaotic, with a wild ride of upsets and a big Anora sweep. The indie film—which was made on a mere $6 million budget and has grossed nearly $41 million worldwide—also won Best Director, Editing and Original Screenplay. Vulture says it was the most solid Oscar broadcast in years, “though that had less to do with the relative lack of recognition of what’s going on in the world than with providing reassurance that Hollywood is still good at putting on a show.”

Kieran Culkin won Best Supporting Actor for A Real Pain, and pulled off an acceptance-speech hat trick of sorts, recalling how he was going to cash in on a promise by his wife for more children if he won the Golden Globes. Apparently, she made the same bet for an Oscar and now he wants child number four. It was off-the-cuff, funny, possibly a little ill-advised, and perfectly Kieran Culkin.

Wicked won for Production Design. And while that film had really impressive sets, many thought every other nominee deserved it more. Shocking that The Brutalist, a movie literally about the power of designing spaces, lost this one. The film’s lead, Adrien Brody, did win however, in the Best Actor category. There was a chance that Timothée Chalamet was going to walk away with an Oscar for his portrayal of Bob Dylan, but it wasn’t his time. Another surprise was the young ingenue Mikey Madison winning Best Actress for Anora over the highly-anticipated Demi Moore, who had already won the Golden Globe, the SAG, and the Critics’ Choice Award in this category.

And just as Best Actress was announced, Hulu cut the feed! The livestream ended abruptly for users right before the pivotal final minutes of the award show with two of the big five award categories left to be announced, including Best Picture. It was Hulu’s first time airing the academy awards show live. And it might be its last. But on a high note, the men looked particularly sharp. There was a nice mix of classic tuxedos and more inventive and adventurous style swerves—including guys like Adrien Brody, Dave Bautista and Joe Alwyn all embracing statement brooches on their jackets. Not that many Artists4Ceasefire pins this time around, though, which might have something to do with this.

Europeans Embrace Zelensky

A frenetic weekend of Ukraine diplomacy

European leaders raced on Sunday to salvage Ukraine’s ruptured relationship with the United States, with Britain and France assembling a “coalition of the willing” to develop a plan for ending Ukraine’s war with Russia. The Ukrainian leader also said he believes he’ll be able to salvage his relationship with the United States following his contentious meeting in the Oval Office on Friday with President Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

Gathering in London at the invitation of Prime Minister Keir Starmer of Britain, the leaders vowed to bolster support for Ukraine. “We are at a crossroads in history,”Starmer said after the meeting. “Europe must do the heavy lifting,” he declared, but added, “To support peace, and to succeed, this effort must have strong U.S. backing.” He believes that despite Trump’s heated exchange with Zelensky in the Oval Office, Trump was “committed to a lasting peace agreement between Ukraine and Russia.” He said Britain and France, working with other European countries, would develop their own plan with Zelensky.

NATO chief Mark Rutte said more countries agreed to ramp up defense spending, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said it was vital for Europe to “rearm” and would present a plan to do that this week. And while Putin has been tight lipped about the Oval Office fracas, Russian state media and officials have reacted with glee. Moscow is now anticipating talks aimed at rebuilding the U.S.-Russia relationship will continue in the weeks ahead and, though nothing has been announced in public, there’s talk of a Trump-Putin summit being fast-tracked.

RIP Skype

Microsoft plans to move users to its Teams service

Do you remember Skype? The pioneering internet-calling service walked so Zoom and FaceTime could run. But time moves on and so do people. Now owned by Microsoft, the company announced that they’re shutting down Skype, which they bought for $8.5 billion in 2011.

It’s no surprise to anyone that Skype has struggled to maintain relevance in the face of competition from the likes of Google, Zoom and WhatsApp. But at its peak, around 2016, Skype had more than 300 million users calling and video-chatting online. Microsoft had announced plans to retire Skype for Business in 2017 and replace it with Teams, but it’s only now going through with it.

Users will soon be able to log into Teams using their Skype credentials, according to the blog post. The company said Skype contacts and chat histories will migrate to Teams, and people also can export their Skype data.

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