The Golden Globe Awards are kind of like a distant relative of the Oscars; it’s not like you forget it exists, but you’re only obligated to remember them once a year. This year’s ceremony was no exception; with a presentation largely lacking in pizazz, the show is still not winning its way into our award show-loving hearts.

However, despite the lack of excitement, some positive elements included dominance from Kate Winslet, John Adams, and 30 Rock.  Here are some of the notable events from this year’s bash:

HIGHLIGHTS

Springsteen Beats Clint…Sort Of

Upon winning the award for Best Original Song for the title track from The Wrestler, Bruce Springsteen made note of the fact that one of the other nominees was the title track from Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino. The Boss remarked, “This is the only time I’ll be in competition with Clint Eastwood. Felt pretty good too!”

Ricky Gervais Brings the Funny

Gervais handled the bothersome crowd noise (see below) in his own humorous way. But the comedian’s real highlight was a gentle ribbing of Kate Winslet. When guest starring on Gervais’s Extras, Winslet played herself shooting a Holocaust film and joked about it was the easy way to win an Oscar. With her Golden Globe win for The Reader, Gervais couldn’t let that coincidence go unchecked. “Kate Winslet, I told you: do the Holocaust movie, the awards come.” Then, as he threw back a beer, he joked about being snubbed for Ghost Town despite having sex with 200 middle-aged men. His natural comedic flair was a nice boost of energy to the ceremony.

Sally Hawkins Nervously Accepts Award

Hawkins was in stellar company for the Best Actress – Musical/Comedy award, including Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson, and Frances McDormand. No one was more shocked than she was when her name was announced as the winner, and her awkwardly fumbling speech was a nice display of genuine emotion. She stumbled through her words with a shaky tone, and we were caught up in the moment just as she was.

Tracy Morgan Pokes Fun at “Change”

Despite the announcer stating that Tina Fey would be accepting the award for 30 Rock’s Best Comedy Series win, co-star Tracy Morgan took the stage instead. He remarked that if Barack Obama won, he would speak for America from now on, remarking, “I’m the new face of post-racial America. Deal with it, Cate Blanchett!” He continued his speech with the same ridiculously-infused delivery that makes his character on the show a hoot to watch.

Tina Fey Continues the 30 Rock Funny Streak

Not to be outdone, Fey delivered some laughs of her own when winning the Best Actress award for 30 Rock. She remarked on collecting the Hollywood Foreign Press action figures when she was growing up, and then stated, “If you start to feel too good about yourself, they have this thing called the Internet. You can find a lot of people there that don’t like you.” She then addressed some fictional online users, telling them to “suck it.”

Mickey Rourke Wins

Mickey Rourke’s performance in The Wrestler was certainly mesmerizing, and it’s shaping up to be one of the better stories in this awards season. When the troubled actor picked up the Golden Globe, he got the loudest ovation of the night. During his speech, he expressed sincere gratitude to the people who helped him out, including director Darren Aronofsky. He called the director a “tough son of a bitch”, which Aronofsky responded to by humorously giving Rourke the bird.

A Slumdog’s Big Night

Generating hoots and hollers when each of its nominations was announced, Slumdog Millionaire was unquestionably the biggest winner of the night. Sweeping its four nominations, the infectious romantic drama has now officially established itself as the front runner for this year’s Academy Awards. And if Danny Boyle’s work repeats its dominance at the Oscars, I won’t object.

LOWLIGHTS

The Awkward Beginning

Personally, I always think it’s a bad omen whenever I see a montage set to a Pussycat Dolls song, so the fact that their “When I Grow Up” played against the glimpses of all the stars was bad enough. But once we went inside the auditorium, the ceremony started with no fanfare. Jennifer Lopez was brought out to present the first award (she was introduced as an actress, which is funny because it’s been a few years since she actually acted in anything) and awkwardly asked, “everyone having a good time? Let’s get right to the awards.” Sure, overdrawn introductions are a drag, but none at all? Seems a bit joyless.

Clinking and Chatter

Later, when Lopez began to announce the nominees, one could still hear a smattering of chatter and clinking silverware. J-Lo, in a desperate attempt to make sure people still know who she is, expressed her displeasure by shouting, “hello? Mama’s talkin’!” What a bang-up way to get things going, and the rudeness continued after most commercial breaks. Gervais managed to make some humor of the situation, but you could sense his genuine irritation at the situation, and I don’t blame him.

Boring Introductions

Every presenter or presenters seemed to have the same agenda when introducing their categories: to be as dull and obligatory as possible. The danger with humor, of course, is that if constructed or delivered poorly, it comes across as a desperate attempt to liven things up. (Don Cheadle’s attempted ribbing of the Coens and Brad Pitt during his introduction of Burn After Reading is a good example) But so many presenters either went right to reading the nominees or did some minor orating before getting on with it. Snooze!

Just the Thanks, Ma’am

What’s even worse than simply going from award to award with no energy whatsoever? How about each winner going through the same motions in their acceptance speeches? No matter the category, it seemed as though each winner got up, thanked the necessary people that helped make the magic happened, and walked away. (As earnestly appealing as Sally Hawkins’s speech was, it also followed this motif) There were exceptions, of course (including Laura Dern riding the election-year buzzword of change as she wrapped up her speech) but they were certainly not the rule.

Keeping Down Appearances

As Sting presented the Best Original Song award, I wish he had told the audience what project he was working on requiring him to play either a homeless bum or a stranded island resident. How else to explain the scraggly hair and beard? Later, introducing a clip from The Reader, it seemed as though Renee Zellweger had just gotten out of bed backstage. Her bed-head hair style was unappealing, as was her tattered-looking dress. And this is coming from someone who normally could care less about the visual aesthetic of these awards.

Cohen’s Stale Shtick

Sacha Baron Cohen gave a hilarious acceptance speech when winning for Borat a couple of years ago, and he tried to infuse his introduction with some more cutting barbs. But instead of the unexpected humor he generated before, Cohen stuck with tired material this time around. With such stale targets as celebrities’ plastic surgery obsession and Guy Ritchie playing second fiddle to Madonna, lightning didn’t strike twice.

Don’t They Rehearse This Stuff?

When Gossip Girl’s Blake Lively and The Office’s Rainn Wilson presented the award for Best TV Drama, there was an awkward silence after they proclaimed who the nominees would be. Apparently, neither star realized they would have to read the names themselves, despite the fact that every other presenter did just that throughout the evening. And they wonder why TV actors don’t get respect?