The press room is boiling hot and it's so cramped that I have to sit on the floor. Internet reception is lousy, so let's hope this weak beam I've caught holds till I get this posted.

The ceremony out in the ballroom of the Hyatt Regency tonight is going great thanks to Carl Reiner's usual deft emceeing. His best bit as he opened the show: "The last movie I directed was . . . oh, I don't know. It doesn't matter. I don't bother directing movies anymore. I re-direct them, other people's movies. I rent them and criticize what everybody else does. I highly recommend this to all of you. It's easier and very therapeutic."

Some winners so far:

COMMERCIALS: Nicolai Fuglsig, MJZ, UK
CHILDREN'S PROGRAMS: Paul Hoen, "Jump In"
DAYTIME SERIALS: Larry Carpenter, "One life to Live"
REALITY: Bertram Van Munster, "The Amazing Race"
DOCUMENTARY, Asger Leth, "Ghosts of Cite Soleil"
MUSICAL VARIETY: Glenn P. Weiss, "61st Annual Tony Awards"
COMEDY SERIES: Barry Sonnenfeld, "Pushing Daisies"
DRAMA SERIES: Alan Taylor, "Mad Men"
MOVIES FOR TV: Yves Simoneau, "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee"
FEATURE FILM: Joel and Ethan Coen, "No Country for Old Men"

Photos from the press room, below: At left, "Pushing Daisies" stars Chi McBride and Kristin Chenoweth recreate a scene they did on stage earlier when McBride lifted Chenoweth up so she could read the teleprompter. Middle: Paul Thomas Anderson shows off his nomination medallion, presented to him by Daniel Day-Lewis. Right: This is the only press room I've ever been in at an awards show where we print journos are pushed to the back so the photogs can take pix. Usually, they're on raised risers behind us. Actually, in my case, I've been pushed to the side where I sit on the floor under TV monitors letting us see what's going on during the ceremony. I have a ticket to sit at a banquet table inside, but my table is jam-packed and I can't plop a computer on it.

There's a strange, inconsistent ritual that's part of this DGA ceremony. They give out nomination medallions as if they're awards, but only to the feature-film nominees, not to any of the other nominees. Below: Joel and Ethan Cohen (left) and Tony Gilroy (stars Tom Wilkinson and Tilda Swinton). Sean Penn isn't here. Emile Hirsch just accepted Sean Penn's medallion on his behalf because, Emile said, "Sean's directing a movie in San Francisco right now. He just started tonight." (Yeah . . . sure.)