‘Academy Award Winner’ Lady Gaga!

• One of the absolute highlights of Sunday night’s host-less Academy Awards was the riveting, surprisingly intimate (despite the global audience) performance of “Shallow” by Lady Gaga and her A Star Is Born co-star and director Bradley Cooper that earned a standing ovation from the Dolby Theatre audience. Later in the evening, in what Variety called “the least suspenseful race of this year’s Oscars,” “Shallow” (Interscope Records) won the Academy Award for “Best Original Song.”

A tearful Gaga accepted her statue, along with her co-writers Mark Ronson, Andrew Wyatt and Anthony Rossomando. First addressing Cooper sitting in the front row, Gaga said, “Bradley, there’s not a single person on the planet that could have sung this song with me but you.” She added, “Thank you for believing in us… And if you are at home and you’re sitting on your couch, and you are watching this right now, all I have to say is that this is hard work. I’ve worked hard for a long time, and… it’s not about winning. But what it’s about is not giving up. If you have a dream, fight for it. There’s a discipline for passion, and it’s not about how many times you get rejected or you fall down, or you’re beaten. It’s about how many times you stand up, and are brave, and you keep going.”