Meryl Streep is one of our greatest actresses, and I have the utmost respect for her talents. In my mind, she is one of a small handful of genius actors. It makes me ache to see her fall into the usual trap of feeling that she has to use a platform created by her talents to speak her political mind—no matter what she said. Just accept the award graciously, Meryl, and compliment your other actor friends. You’re just feeding the all-too-common idea that filmmakers are entitled rich people who are above the rest of the hoi polloi and need to be taught the higher perspectives. And no, it wasn’t brave to say what nearly everyone else in the echo chamber–I mean the room—already believes. And I also think Donald Trump’s tweet response was think-skinned, defensive, childish and completely wrong on every level.

I was grateful to see a few women dressed modestly. For a group that supposedly would view themselves as opposed to the exploitation of women, it’s remarkable how many women present themselves wearing tight and/or cleavage-revealing outfits. The irony is dizzying.

The loss of what was expected to be Mahershala Ali’s supporting actor award for Moonlight to Aaron Taylor-Johnson for Nocturnal Animals was completely unexpected.

Not sure if Tom Hiddleston’s award for “The Night Manager” was deserved. But Hugh Laurie’s award for the same show certainly wasn’t. It belonged to Sterling K. Brown for his portrayal of Christopher Darden in “The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.” Perhaps the British background of these two actors was the deciding factor for these “foreign press” members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. All these performances were good. It’s just that Brown’s was excellent.

Steve Carell and Kristen Wiig (go, Rochester!) had by far the best and funniest presentation of the evening. It was a master class of comedy and timing.

The seven awards for La La Land were a record. Not only did the film win the most Golden Globes in history, but it won in every category in which it was nominated. But these awards are probably not necessarily going to be the predictor of this year’s Academy Awards. La La Land was the obvious choice in the comedy/musical category. How could that be compared fairly to Manchester by the Sea or Moonlight? Apples and oranges. It may be that we have a revisit to the films from 1951, when the vote between dark and serious films—A Streetcar Named Desire and A Place in the Sun—may have split the vote and given the top award to the musical An American in Paris.

The Best Actress/Drama award to French legend Isabelle Huppert may be a bellwether of a shift away from Natalie Portman’s portrayal of Jackie Kennedy in Jackie. Or, again, it may be the “foreign press” aspect again, though there has been talk for months that Huppert deserves the award. She will certainly be nominated.

Casey Affleck deserves the Best Actor/Drama award, and he’ll win the Oscar. Sorry, Ryan G. Not your year, so be content with the Golden Globe and be glad they divide the Best Acting awards.

Viola Davis’ award for Fences signals her receiving the Oscar this year for the same performance.

Damien Chazelle, winner of Best Screenplay and Director for La La Land and just shy of 32 years of age, is now officially Hollywood’s new wunderkind. Whiplash wasn’t a fluke, but a sign of what was to come.

Can’t argue with the two awards for The Crown. Well worth the visit.

Best Miniseries or TV Film and Best Actress for Sarah Paulson for “The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story” might have been the most deserved awards of the evening.

Mel Gibson has officially made his comeback with Hacksaw Ridge.

Sophia Vergara is a lovely woman, but she looked and acted rather ridiculous.

I can’t comment on the many awards for relatively new television shows, as I can’t begin to keep up with them. And I wonder how many voters can….

The chiropractors in the Los Angeles area were likely quite busy today with all the patting on one’s back that went on last night. Can we please just rein it in and stick to filmmaking and gratitude?

Lastly, the Golden Globes only recently have scaled the walls of respectability. Their history is as a compromised small group of easily influenced Eurocentric voters. Their present isn’t a whole lot different.