I don't know about you, but I can't get enough of election campaigns. So I'm glad that hot on the heels of the Presidential showdown of 2012 comes a contest that really matters, the Oscars.

That race got off to a semi-official start Saturday night at the 24th annual "International Black Tie Awards Gala" hosted by the Palm Springs International Film Festival.

This is a bit late, but it takes a while to decompress from the cinematic nirvana of Toronto.

So, the winners.

David O. Russell's "Silver Linings Playbook" (didn't see it!) won the "Blackberry People's Choice Award." Good news for Russell, because previous winners ("Slumdog Millionaire," "The King's Speech") have gone on to win Best Picture Oscars

In addition to an outstanding film festival, Seattle offers a very cool museum combining two of the obsessions of its founder, local Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen: science fiction and rock and roll. I visited the Experience Music Project/Science Fiction Museum (EMP/SFM) with YH and fellow FIPRESCI juror, stalwart Gideon Kouts of Paris.

After a lengthy flight involving several delays to Vienna, where I was serving on the International Critics Jury for the Vienna Film Festival, we were greeted at the baggage claim by a large armchair that moved about and spoke to people. It would sneak up on passengers from behind, saying things that I could not make out despite having taken two years of German in grad school, at times pursuing people who fled, alarmed or irritated.