Kim Sheppard can’t imagine what her life would be like without dance.

“I started when I was four. It’s like breathing,” said the New York native, who has taught at Dance Theatre of Lynchburg for seven years.

She was one of about 50 people who braved the cold Wednesday during a rally to protest a General Assembly proposal that would cut funding for the Virginia Commission for the Arts in half in 2010-11, and eliminate it altogether in 2011-12.

Sheppard said the possibility of cuts in arts and arts education “saddens me because I know what it’s meant to me.”

Members of the James River Council for the Arts and Humanities organized the rally, modeling it after a similar one held in Richmond last week, said David Neumeyer, council president.

“It just struck us on the arts council that we needed to do something locally,” he said before addressing the crowd.

The rally was in response to the House of Delegates budget for 2010-12 — approved by the House on Wednesday — that would reduce money allocated to the commission by $2.23 million in the first year of the budget, and erase all funding in the second year.

The Senate’s budget would keep $4.46 million in arts funding in each year.

Those gathered on Wednesday at the downtown Community Market showed their support for arts funding in different ways.

Some carried signs — “Virginia Is For The Arts,” “Art Heals” and “Don’t Silence the Music” were among their messages — while others carried the tools of their trade, including paintbrushes, cameras and, in Sheppard’s case, a pair of black tap shoes.

“The arts build communities. The arts build economies,” Neumeyer said. “We have a thriving arts community and a thriving downtown. They’re both growing.

“What pulls us together is the Virginia Commission for the Arts.”

Over the past two years, Lynchburg-area arts programs have received a total of almost $400,000 from the VCA, money that’s vital to most of their day-to-day operations.

Many wondered what the arts scene here and in other Virginia communities would look like without the organization.

“If they get rid of all the funding, and there’s nowhere for arts people to go, everyone is going to leave,” said Christine Gnieski, a Randolph College freshman who plans to major in theater.

“They want to bring people to Virginia, but they’re getting rid of all the things that will do that.

“The arts are good for the soul. They shape the communities, and (the General Assembly) is trying to destroy that.”

The group included leaders of area arts organizations, artists, performers and concerned citizens. Speakers urged them to call local legislators to speak out against the cuts.

“I hope that a lot of people take action,” said Glory Szabo, another organizer. “This is something for the people in charge to take note of.”

Here’s a list of Lynchburg-area arts organizations and how much VCA money they received in the past two years (A chart in Tuesday’s paper reported the amount of grants awarded, but grants later were reduced due to budget cuts):

• Academy of Fine Arts: $141,280

• Amazement Square: $8,500

• Bedford Academy of the Arts, Bedford: $1,275

• Bedford County: $5,000 (matching local government grant)

• Bedford city: $5,500 (matching local government grant)

• Black Theatre Ensemble of Virginia: $2,550

• Dance Theatre of Lynchburg: $33,935

• The Ellington Fellowship Play-house: $11,815

• Jefferson Choral Society: $7,276

• Little Town Players: $2,635

• Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra: $36,396 ($6,000 used to set up local arts council, $5,000 used for arts tourism project)

• Opera on the James: $20,275

• Riverviews Artspace: $12,835

• Virginia Center for the Creative Arts: $110,129

Rodney Atkins is a man of few words.

Take, for instance, a recent e-mail Q&A we conducted with the country music singer, who will be performing in Lynchburg with Phil Vassar on Thursday to raise money for the Miller Home of Lynchburg.

His answers were short, sweet and to the point.

Maybe Atkins prefers to talk through his music, which he began playing as a high schooler growing up in East Tennessee.

He got more serious about it in college, when he began making regular trips to Nashville to write, perform and learn the business. Those trips led to a deal with Curb Records and the release of his first album, 2003’s “Honesty,” which included the Top 5 hit “Honesty (Write Me a List).”

Atkins was back on the charts three years later with “If You’re Going Through Hell,” an album that spawned four number one hits: the title track, as well as “These Are My People,” “Cleaning This Gun” and “Watching You.”

“I’m so thankful for the success of that album,” he said. “It really gave me a career launch.”

“Cleaning This Gun” and “Watching You” were inspired by his family, which includes wife of 10 years, Tammy Jo, their son, Elijah, and Tammy Jo’s two teenage daughters.

The first song is about the fear a father can instill into his daughter’s potential suitors (sample lyric: “Y’all run along and have some fun/I’ll see you when you get back, bet I’ll be up all night/Still cleanin’ this gun”), while the second is about a son learning things, both good and bad, from his father.

“It’s amazing to look out at a crowd and have them sing along with those songs that are so personal to me,” Atkins said. “I love it.”

He said his kids enjoy those song shout-outs and aren’t afraid to offer up feedback.

“My kids are my biggest critics. Constructively of course,” he said. “My family is my life.”

His latest album, “It’s America,” came out last year.

It was inspired by “the simple things in life,” he said. “The things that matter most.”

Atkins agreed to perform with Vassar here after the Lynchburg native did a benefit with him for a children’s home in Tennessee. Atkins, who was adopted as an infant, is particularly passionate about children’s issues and does a lot of work with the National Council for Adoption.

“Rodney’s my bud,” Vassar said during a December interview with The News & Advance. “He and I do things like this for each other. It’s our way of helping each other out and giving back at the same time.”

If You’re Going
WHAT: Phil Vassar & Friends, featuring Rodney Atkins
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Thursday
WHERE: E.C. Glass High School
TICKETS: $35. They can be purchased at the Miller Home (2134 Westerly Drive) from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
INFO: (434) 845-0241

Like barbecue (with which it is often identified), blues music tends to vary slightly by region. Those variations include East Coast Blues, Chicago Blues, Texas Blues, Mississippi Delta Blues and Piedmont Blues.

“It depends on a lot of things,” said Gregg Kimball, a historian with the Library of Virginia, “such as what other kinds of music might have been around to serve as an influence.”

In the case of Virginia, a lot. Piedmont blues musicians in the late-19th and early to mid-20th centuries drew not only from traditional 12-bar blues, but also from old-time and country music. What emerged is something that might be called, “blues lite,” at least in comparison to the heavier sounds from the Delta.

“It’s bouncier than Delta blues,” said Kimball, who has brought the traveling exhibit, “Old Dominion Songsters: Traditional Blues in Virginia” to the Lynchburg Museum at the Old Court House, “and you’re liable to hear a banjo or a slide guitar mixed in.”

One of the artists featured in the show (which opened this weekend and consists of 20 large informational panels augmented by various blues relics) is Lynchburg’s Luke Jordan, a familiar downtown figure in the 1920s. Kevin Cleary, who runs a video store in Madison Heights, is perhaps the recognized expert on Jordan.

“Luke didn’t just play the blues,” Cleary said in a 2001 interview. “He was what they called a ‘songster.’ He could play anything you wanted.”

And he could play it in the backseat of your car. According to legend, courting couples used to pick up Jordan on Fifth Street, supply him with (appropriately enough) a fifth of liquor, and Luke would pick and sing from the back seat during a ride to the Peaks of Otter or some other popular destination.

At some point, a local businessman heard Jordan playing on the street for coins and got him a recording session with Victor Records. Out of that came “Pick Poor Robin Clean,” Jordan’s signature recorded tune.

The Piedmont blues style made popular by John Jackson and John Cephus (also included in the exhibit) is difficult to play well, Kimball pointed out.

“The thumb of the right hand goes back and forth in a kind of syncopated rhythm,” he said. “With some of the great players, it actually sounds like two guitars playing at once. You hear echoes.”

The best way for Kimball to explain that is hands-on — literally. An accomplished guitar player, he can not only describe the blues to his audiences, but demonstrate. Kimball, harmonica player Rick Manson and vocalist Sheryl Warner made up their blues trio Cheryl Warner & the Southside Homewreckers, which performed at the exhibit opening on Saturday.

“He has his intellectual side and his talented side,” Lynchburg Museum director Doug Harvey said of Kimball, a longtime acquaintance.

“This project got started back around ’04,” Kimball said, “when Jan Ramsey of the James River Blues Society and I started trying to get some historic markers placed around the state honoring some of the old Virginia blues players.”

One of the first markers that went up (at the corner of Jefferson and Horseford streets in downtown Lynchburg) honored Luke Jordan, and the recognition campaign began to take on a life of its own.

“We developed a brochure, and then started gathering information to put together this exhibit,” Kimball said.

As he’d suspected, this was easier said than done. Luke Jordan was an early example.

“Like a lot of these guys, he sort of operated on the fringes of society,” said Kimball of Jordan. “The rather grainy photo we have of him is the only one anyone’s ever been able to find.”

“This exhibit is sort of like stone soup,” Harvey said, “a little bit of everything. (Lynchburg attorney) Hal Devening found an old banjo in a barn and contributed it. Jan Ramsey loaned us a bunch of things, and I rummaged around in some closets and came up with some old 78 blues recordings.”

Raylan Givens is all swagger.

The cowboy-hat wearing U.S. Marshal at the center of FX’s “Justified,” which premieres at 10 p.m. Tuesday, is the kind of cool customer who never gets rattled, even when crazed criminals are pointing guns at him. And in the first three episodes, that happens. A lot.

“You make me pull,” Raylan (played by Timothy Olyphant) tells one bad guy, “I’ll put you down.”

Olyphant — whom you’ll recognize from movies like “Scream 2” and “Live Free or Die Hard” and series like “Deadwood” and “Damages” — can really do no wrong in my book, so my love for this show may be a little biased. It probably doesn’t hurt that I’ve been watching previews and anxiously awaiting its premiere for months now.

The name is a little cheesy, but “Justified” is compelling and entertaining, with a great cast.

And, refreshingly, it’s the kind of show where the cops are actually smarter than the criminals and not two steps behind them, which we so often see in these kinds of police dramas.

In the pilot, Raylan is reassigned from the Marshal’s office in Miami to Lexington, Ky., which happens to be near his small hometown, after one of those bad-guys-with-guns predicaments.

His coworkers in Kentucky include boss Art Mullen, who used to teach firearms with Raylan at the Marshal’s training facility and is something of a father figure to him; Rachel Brooks, a hard-working, tough gal who can hang with the guys; and Tim Gutterson, a former Army Ranger sniper.

Their office is responsible for a number of different things, including witness relocation, prisoner transport, judicial protection and fugitive apprehension.

Raylan’s first case involves an old friend he once dug coal with and a girl he used to have a crush on.

That friend, bank robber Boyd (played by Walton Goggins, previously seen on FX’s “The Shield”), immediately establishes himself as a charismatic bad guy and a worthy adversary for Givens. I hope we see more of him in the future.

But there was something about that first episode that just wasn’t clicking, but I didn’t realize what it was until I watched the second and third episodes, which air on March 23 and 30.

Both of those feature little to no scenes with Raylan’s former childhood crush, Ava, and they are much better for it.

The writers seem to be going for a star-crossed lovers vibe with those two — they can’t be together because she’s having some legal problems of her own — but I wasn’t feeling it. Ava is the weak link in an otherwise strong cast.

Olyphant has much more chemistry with actress Natalie Zea, who plays Raylan’s ex-wife, Winona. She doesn’t appear in the first three episodes enough. But when she does, she and Olyphant’s rapport had me rooting for a reunion.

The show is at its best, though, when it focuses on the cases and not Raylan’s complicated love life. So hang in there after the first episode, and you’ll be rewarded.

This show was worth the wait.

The series continues on March 17 with “Power of Community,” which shows how Cuban communities pulled together and thrived after the country’s economy tanked in the wake of the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1990.

The rest of the schedule is as follows:

• March 31: “Coal Country,” a look at modern coal mining, with the stories of miners, coal company officials and the activists who are battling them.

• April 15: “Idiocracy,” a sci-fi comedy starring Luke Wilson as a dim man who, after participating in a government hibernation experiment, wakes up in the year 2025 to find a society so dumbed down by mass commercialism and mindless TV that he’s the smartest guy on the planet.

• April 28: “No Impact Man,” which follows Colin Beavan as he and his family go “off the grid,” attempting to live in New York City for a year with as little environmental impact as possible.

Each film begins at 6 p.m. in the Hopwood Auditorium, with a short discussion after.  For more information, call (434) 544-8100 or visit http://www.lynchburg.edu.

Charlottesville artist speaks
Charlottesville artist and UVa art professor Richard Crozier is the Academy Gallery’s featured artist this month. He’ll be giving a free talk about his oil paintings at 11:30 a.m. Friday in the gallery, located at 600 Main St. For more information, call (434) 528-3256 or visit http://www.AcademyFineArts.com.

Rockabilly act at White Hart
Rockabilly singer Wrenn Mangum will be performing his brand of high-energy rock ‘n’ roll, mostly from the ’50s and ’60s, at The White Hart at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

Mangum grew up on rockabilly and Elvis tunes. After graduating from VCU with a degree in painting and printmaking, he fronted the popular Richmond band Frog Legs and Donkey Balls, which incorporated performance art and comedy. He also sang with rockabilly group The Wild One.

His current project is a solo salute to the original rockabilly pioneers and artists of the 1950s, channeling early Elvis and the traditional spirit of rock ‘n’ roll with only a microphone, guitar, amp and some serious sideburns.

Tickets to the show are $5. For more information, call (434) 455-1659 or visit http://www.inklingswhitehart.com.

CVCC opens new show
The work of North Carolina artists Patricia Hayes and Henry Stindt will be on display in Central Virginia Community College’s Merritt Hall Gallery in March and April.

The exhibit, “A Decade of Travels in Central America,” will open with a reception at 5:30 p.m. Friday.

The fine arts photographs document their 10-year journal of travel through Central America, a continuing project that began in 2000. Both are adjunct professor at East Carolina University School of Art & Design; Hayes is also a studio artist, and Stindt is a commercial and fine art photographer.

For more information, call (434) 832-7609.

65-voice choir to perform
Westminster Choir College’s 65-voice Schola Cantorum will perform at 7:30 p.m. Monday at First Presbyterian Church on V.E.S. Road.

The choir, which is made up of second-year students from the internationally known music school, will present a program of a cappella works from the classical repertoire, including excerpts from Stravinsky’s “Symphony of Psalms,” Faure’s “Requiem” and Moses Hogan’s arrangement of “Wade in the Water,” as well as works by Rutter and Mendelssohn.

James Jordan, senior conductor at Westminster, directs the group.

For more information about the free concert, call (434) 384-6231.

Local band at The Ellington
Dragonfly will perform at this week’s Ellington Fridays, which runs from 5 to 8:30 p.m. Tickets, available at the door, are $8. No children under 12 admitted, and those under 21 must be with a parent. A cash bar will be open. Call (434) 845-2162 or visit http://www.theellington.org for more information.

“It’s been a little more formal in the past,” says chairwoman Lisa Hames. “I thought, ‘We need to mix it up a little bit.’ This year, it’s a relaxed theme.”

“A BBQ, Bourbon & Beer Bash,” the fifth Palates & Palettes event, is set for 6 p.m. March 19.

The event, a fundraiser for the Academy, will feature barbecue-themed food from local restaurants like The Silver Pig, The Depot Grille, Blue Marlin Seafood, Bedford Avenue Meats and Benjamin’s, as well as beer tastings arranged by Waterstone Pizza’s Jefferson Street Brewery and a separate bourbon tasting.

Full glasses of beer and wine will be sold separately.

The work of local artists, including Karen Bowden, Purnell Pettyjohn and the Cub Creek Potters, will also be on display and for sale.

Tickets are $35 and can be purchased by calling (434) 846-TIXX or visiting http://www.AcademyFineArts.com

There are some musicians so passionately in tune with their instrument that they can be deemed “a master” and Jack Rose is certainly that—a dedicated, master of the acoustic guitar.

Hailing from the John Fahey side of guitar composition, Rose’s music recalls the sounds of pre-war American music, heavy on finger picked blues, folk, rags and bluegrass styles.

“Luck in the Valley” is the third and final installment in Rose’s “Ditch Trillogy” and was completed just before his untimely death, caused by a heart attack in early December.

The opener, “Blues for Percy Danforth” is an Indian style raga that edges solemn circles around intense emotion. The twangy guitar solo work lifts the piece into an almost transcendental personal exploration.

“Lick Mountain Row” is a more stomping bluegrass number led by a spritely fiddle weaving around the steady time of plucked acoustic guitar. The explorative banjo and quick-to-follow guitar on “Moon in the Gutter” conjure the vibe of a late night front porch session.

Rose plays homage to his influences with a sultry cover of W.C. Handy’s “St. Louis Blues” and album closer, a version of Blind Blake’s “West Coast Blues.” The latter is one of the more optimistic and upbeat tracks on the record with banjo and guitar reaching perfect syncopation.

“Luck in the Valley” is a great album for Rose, showcasing both diversity of sound and emotional depth. There is no need for vocals with such rich instrumental communication. The passing of Jack Rose leaves the underground folk and music world with a major loss, but his music, timeless and inspiring, will continue to speak volumes.

Working from Linda Woolverton’s very Hollywood screenplay adaptation of Lewis Carroll’s classic tale, Burton shifts the story from a child Alice to a near-adult Alice, viewing her journey through a drearier, more dangerous looking-glass.

We glimpse the prim, Victorian child of Carroll’s tale in the film’s opening as she’s awakens from what sounds like her trip to Wonderland. Her father tells her that her deranged dreams do indeed mean she’s bonkers, but he assures, “All the best people are.”

It’s a neat line and it’s at the heart of Burton’s 3-D version of Carroll’s beloved book, which also draws heavily from its sequel, “Through the Looking-Glass.” It was shot in 2-D, but transferred to 3-D afterward, and its effects are more distracting than spectacular.

One does, though, get a bit queasy hearing of such classics “updated” as if they’re local TV newscasts.

The film quickly fast forwards 13 years and Alice (played by the startlingly promising Mia Wasikowska, who previously impressed watchers of HBO’s “In Treatment”), is lured back to Wonderland by the familiar, punctually paranoid rabbit (voiced by Michael Sheen).

She flees a white and pastel-colored reality (where she is being arranged with great orchestration to marry a man she disdains) and falls down the hole, which sits at the base of a tree that could very well be the same one from Burton’s “Sleepy Hollow.”

Alice doesn’t remember her last trip to Wonderland. This time, the plot is similar, but slightly different. It’s Underland, not Wonderland. The tea party is more faded and ramshackle. Alice is beset by questions that she’s “the wrong Alice.”

This Alice is far from Carroll’s. Where the Alice of the 1865 book is confused and essentially on a journey of self-discovery, Burton’s Alice is more sure of herself. The exchange with the smoking blue caterpillar (voiced by Alan Rickman) is less “Who-o-o are you-o-o?” and more about Alice proving herself — to the caterpillar and everyone else.

“This is my dream. I make the path,” she says.

Burton’s “Alice” reflects today’s times more than Carroll’s era. There’s triumph over the “dominion over living things” practiced by the cruel, bigheaded Red Queen (a brilliantly thin-skinned Helena Bonham Carter), and there’s Alice’s girl power. By the end, she confidently returns to begin, of all things, a business endeavor in China.

The take-home lesson of Carroll’s tale is something quite different. It’s not fuel for upright adulthood, but “the simple and loving heart of her childhood.”

Burton’s film is not lacking whimsy. Much of its design is wonderfully imaginative — surely the biggest draw of the movie. Credit also goes to the visual effects of Ken Ralston and the costumes of Colleen Atwood. There are elegant moments — the overhead shot of Alice shrinking into the billows of her dress, or the great, big slobbering tongue of the beastly Bandersnatch. The incredibly tweaky March Hare (voiced by Paul Whitehouse) is also a joy.

But Burton has beefed up the original story so that it feels less personal and more like the many action films about young, maturing heroes who must slay a giant villain. Danny Elfman’s score keeps the mood dark.

The Cheshire Cat (voiced by Stephen Fry) — whose handling is normally tantamount — passes curiously without energy, like a bow made out of courtesy.

And then there’s the Mad Hatter, a role so befitting Johnny Depp (working with Burton for the seventh time) that it might seem too obvious for him. There is a trace of the been-there-done-that to Depp’s somewhat rootless performance, but wishing for him to cut back on playing mad clowns would be like telling Fred Astaire to quit all that dancing.

The many moving parts — Anne Hathaway slides nicely into Burton-world as the White Queen, Crispin Glover plays the Knave of Hearts — nevertheless add up to less than a good “Alice.” The 1933 version with Cary Grant and W.C. Fields may still take the cake.

Though Burton’s film boasts some excellent performances, as the caterpillar says to our heroine, it’s merely “almost Alice.”

“Alice in Wonderland,” a Walt Disney Pictures release, is rated PG for fantasy action/violence involving scary im-ages and situations, and for a smoking caterpillar. Running time: 109 minutes. Two stars out of four.

Dear Dirty doggie: Far be it from me to second guess your pet’s IQ, but you should know that this is a common problem. Dogs instinctively roll around in other animal’s feces as a way to mask their own sent from potential prey. Of course, your dog could be getting into doggie-doo for other reasons, like he doesn’t like his own scent after he’s been given a bath with strong smelling soap. In any case, you can stop this behavior in a number of ways. Take your dog out only on a leash. He will still get plenty of exercise this way. Also, if you catch your dog in the act, reprimand him immediately in whatever way you normally “punish” your dog for bad behavior. And finally, if your dog is rolling around in his own waste, try getting a pooper-scooper and removing the waste before he has a chance to get to it.

Dear Emily: I witnessed my best friend’s husband kissing another woman at a restaurant several weeks ago. I’ve been going crazy trying to decide if I should tell her or not. I don’t want her to get hurt, but if her husband is having an affair, shouldn’t she know about it? – Can’t decide

Dear Can’t decide: As you are well aware, you are caught in between that proverbial rock and a hard place. Your friend won’t thank you for telling her news that could destroy her marriage; and her marriage is certainly doomed if you don’t do anything at all.

So try a different approach—talk to the husband. Let him know what you saw and that if you witness anything like it again, you’ll be forced to tell his wife. This way may push the husband to do the right thing on his own: Confessing to his wife and/or ending all extra-marital affairs. This option takes the burden off of you, an outsider to the marriage, and leaves the responsibility where it belongs.

Dear Emily: My friend just gave birth to her second child, and I noticed she is very unattached to the child—she never wants to hold her and she gets extremely angry when the baby cries and can’t be consoled. I think she may have postpartum depression. How do I approach her about this without offending her? – Baby blues

Dear Baby blues: Confront your friend with some literature about postpartum depression, maybe a pamphlet from a doctor’s office or something from the Internet.

Give it to her with the disclosure that you don’t necessarily believe she suffers from this, but it is always a good idea to be informed just in case. Encourage her to read the information so she knows the signs herself. Your goal is not to make your friend feel like you are accusing her of something, but rather that you are just looking out for her (and the child’s) well being. Remember, there is a world of difference between being angry with your baby and taking that anger out on the child. So be aware yourself of the signs of postpartum depression. If you truly believe your friend has a problem and she won’t take your advice seriously, talk to the child’s father or someone else who your friend will listen to.

LOS ANGELES — Kathryn Bigelow played field commander to bring her raw, relentless Iraq War thriller “The Hurt Locker” to the screen.

After her film triumphed at the Academy Awards with six prizes and made her the first woman ever to win the directing Oscar, she graduated to diplomat with her deft handling of some uncomfortable personal questions from reporters after the show.

List of winners at the 82nd annual Oscars
Staff Writer,writer

List of winners at the 82nd annual Academy Awards:

— Motion Picture: “The Hurt Locker.“

— Actor: Jeff Bridges, “Crazy Heart.“

— Actress: Sandra Bullock, “The Blind Side.“

— Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, “Inglourious Basterds.“

— Supporting Actress: Mo’Nique, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.“

— Director: Kathryn Bigelow, “The Hurt Locker.“

— Foreign Film: “El Secreto de Sus Ojos,“ Argentina.

— Adapted Screenplay: Geoffrey Fletcher, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.“

— Original Screenplay: Mark Boal, “The Hurt Locker.“

— Animated Feature Film: “Up.“

— Art Direction: “Avatar.“

— Cinematography: “Avatar.“

— Sound Mixing: “The Hurt Locker.“

— Sound Editing: “The Hurt Locker.“

— Original Score: “Up,“ Michael Giacchino.

— Original Song: “The Weary Kind (Theme From Crazy Heart)“ from “Crazy Heart,“ Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett.

— Costume: “The Young Victoria.“

— Documentary Feature: “The Cove.“

— Documentary (short subject): “Music by Prudence.“

— Film Editing: “The Hurt Locker.“

— Makeup: “Star Trek.“

— Animated Short Film: “Logorama.“

— Live Action Short Film: “The New Tenants.“

— Visual Effects: “Avatar.“

Bigelow’s rivals included a man from her past — ex-husband James Cameron, whose science-fiction epic “Avatar” also was nominated for the best picture and director that she won.

Backstage, Bigelow judiciously handled reporters’ queries about Cameron, who was seated right behind her at the Oscars and joined the standing ovation she received, clapping heartily and saying, “Yes, yes” after she won best director.

“Jim is very inspiring. I think he inspires filmmakers around the world, and for that, I think I can speak for all of them. We’re quite grateful,“ Bigelow said.

Asked what she might say to Cameron about winning over him, Bigelow gave a big laugh and shrugged off the question.

“You left me speechless,“ Bigelow said. She and Cameron were married from 1989-91, and Cameron won best director and picture for his 1997 blockbuster “Titanic.“

First-time winners took all four acting prizes: Sandra Bullock as best actress for “The Blind Side”; Jeff Bridges as best actor for “Crazy Heart”; Mo’Nique as supporting actress for “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire”; and Christoph Waltz as supporting actor for “Inglourious Basterds.“

Bigelow downplayed descriptions of herself as a female filmmaker throughout awards season. After the Oscars, she reiterated that sentiment but made it clear she was eager for other women to follow her lead in winning Hollywood’s top filmmaking honor.

“I hope I’m the first of many, and of course, I’d love to just think of myself as a filmmaker. And I long for the day when that modifier can be a moot point,“ Bigelow said. “But I’m very grateful if I can inspire some young, intrepid, tenacious male or female filmmaker and have them feel that the impossible is possible, and never give up on your dream.“

Bullock’s win came a day after she won worst-actress for her romantic comedy flop “All About Steve” at the Razzies, a spoof of the Oscars that mocks Hollywood’s low-points of the year.

The Razzie win makes Bullock the only actress to receive that dubious prize and an Oscar on the same weekend. Bullock became one of the few Razzie winners ever to collect her trophy in person, showing up at the ceremony Saturday pulling a little red wagon filled with DVDs of “All About Steve” for the audience there.

Where will she keep her Oscar and Razzie?

“They’ll sit side by side on a nice little shelf somewhere. The Razzie maybe on a different shelf. Lower,“ said Bullock, who was a great sport throughout awards season, joking about her worst-actress Razzie nomination. “You take the good with the not-so-good.“

The Oscar marks a career peak for Bridges, a beloved Hollywood veteran who had been nominated four times in the previous 38 years without winning. Describing his long career, he borrowed some lines from one of his most endearing and enduring characters, the laid-back bowler the Dude from “The Big Lebowski.“

“Ups and downs. What does the Dude say? Strikes and gutters, man,“ Bridges said backstage. “I’m big on the Dude. I love him.“

Known mainly for brazen comedy routines and roles in lowbrow films, Mo’Nique startled audiences with a dark turn as a reprehensible welfare mother in “Precious.“

Asked backstage if things would change for her, Mo’Nique declared, “I am a standup comedian who won an Oscar.“

Austrian-born Waltz, a veteran TV and stage actor in Europe but virtually unknown in Hollywood before Quentin Tarantino cast him in “Inglourious Basterds,“ reflected on his sudden Oscar celebrity.

“It’s mind-boggling. It’s fantastic. It’s very intense,“ Waltz said. “And tomorrow I’ll probably be sorry it’s over,“ he said.

“The Hurt Locker” scored a victory for war-on-terror dramas, which until now had found little favor with audiences shell-shocked by nightly news coverage of the action in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The film stars Jeremy Renner as the ace leader of a bomb-disposal unit in Iraq, a man whose addiction to the adrenaline rush of war endanger his colleagues (Anthony Mackie and Brian Geraghty).

War films normally are the arena of male directors, but Bigelow has made action and stories about tough men a specialty, her films including the Keanu Reeves-Patrick Swayze thriller “Point Break” and Harrison Ford’s submarine adventure “K-19: The Widowmaker.“

“K-19” was a 2002 flop, and it took Bigelow years to get back in action with “The Hurt Locker,“ which premiered at the Venice and Toronto film festivals in September 2008.

While it pulled in $12.6 million domestically, a respectable showing for an independent film without big stars, “The Hurt Locker” is the lowest-grossing best-picture winner in this modern era of detailed box-office bookkeeping.

It took in less than one-fourth the haul of 2005 best-picture winner “Crash,“ itself one of the least commercially successful recipients of the top Oscar.

Along with “Avatar,“ the biggest modern blockbuster with $720 million domestically, the best-picture competition included the $200 million smashes “Up” and “The Blind Side” and the $100 million hits “District 9” and “Inglourious Basterds.“

Like “Crash,“ ‘'The Hurt Locker” was a rare film that swooped in from outside the Hollywood studios to earn the industry’s highest tribute. “The Hurt Locker” was acquired by Summit Entertainment after the film played at the Toronto festival, where “Crash” also was bought by distributor Lionsgate.

Joining Bigelow to collect the best-picture Oscar were “Hurt Locker” producers Mark Boal, who also won the prize for original screenplay, and Greg Shapiro.

A fourth producer — financier Nicolas Chartier, a key money man behind the film — was barred from attending as punishment for violating awards rules by sending e-mails to Oscar voters urging them to back “The Hurt Locker” over “Avatar.“

Oscar overseers said Chartier still will receive his best-picture Oscar, but at a later time.

“We haven’t spoken to him yet,“ Shapiro said. “He sent me a very beautiful e-mail. He had a party thrown for him, and I think he’s very pleased.“

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