This Is How It’s Done.

Yesterday began rather rotten. Ben Affleck, who directed the amazing Argo, didn’t get an Oscar nomination. And all I could think was, “It’s okay, Ben. You still have a month left to make it into the Oscars’ ‘In Memoriam’ video.”

But then evening came, and Ben won best director at the Critics’ Choice Awards, and just nailed his acceptance speech:

“I would like to thank the Academy. I’m kidding, I’m kidding. This is the one that counts. No, I do want to thank the Broadcast Film Critics Association. It is very, very cool for me. There was a time when the Ben Affleck’s Critics’ Award was a ‘Saturday Night Live’ sketch.

“This is about Tony Mendez, who did this actual, real thing. He was in the CIA, he won the intelligence star, he’s an American hero. He’s emblematic of the men and women who serve in our clandestine service and the men and women who are in our foreign service, both of whom make tremendous sacrifice day in and day out.”