P. Diddy visits with MTV News before entering the Vanity Fair Oscar party
Photo: MTV News

For what is usually a long and boring awards show, this year's Oscars had a few dramatic moments: history-making wins for Halle Berry and Denzel Washington, Best Director snub reversal for Ron Howard and singer/songwriter Randy Newman's narrow escape from the Academy Awards' dubious distinction of biggest loser.

Sunday night's big winners were Denzel Washington for Best Leading Actor in "Training Day" and Halle Berry for Best Leading Actress in "Monster's Ball." Berry is the first black woman in the history of the Oscars to win in that category, while Washington is only the second black man to nab the Best Actor award — Sidney Poitier, who won an honorary Oscar Sunday night, was the first, for his role in "Lilies of the Field," an award he took home in 1963.

Ron Howard and Russell Crowe powerhouse "A Beautiful Mind" won for Best Picture, and Howard picked up the Best Director honor. Jennifer Connelly received the award for Best Supporting Actress in the film.

Jim Broadbent took home the Best Supporting Actor award for "Iris."

"The Lord of the Rings" had several wins, including Best Visual Effects and Best Musical Score. "Moulin Rouge" was another multiple winner, taking awards for Best Costume Design and Best Art Direction.

Newman, the Susan Lucci of the Oscars, has been nominated 16 times without a win, but all of that changed this year when he took home the statuette for Best Song. His "If I Didn't Have You" from "Monsters, Inc." may not have been his best material, but it did save him from the clutches of some history-making of his own: the longest losing track record.

Newman has written and recorded songs for films including "Toy Story," "A Bug's Life," "Meet the Parents" and "James and the Giant Peach."

The full list of winners can be found at www.oscars.com.

• Randy Newman

Ian McKellen as Gandalf in "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"
Photo: New Line

"Is this the real life/ Is this just fantasy?" This classic query from Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" could easily refer to the three films with the most nominations for the 74th annual Academy Awards.

The elf-and-orc-riddled "The Lord of the Rings" leads the pack with 13 nominations, while the amorous, lingerie-clad adventure "Moulin Rouge" and schizophrenic case study "A Beautiful Mind" trail with eight nominations apiece. The three frontrunners, along with "In the Bedroom" and "Gosford Park," will battle it out for the Best Picture title at the awards ceremony, taking place March 24 at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland. The event will be televised on ABC.

"The Lord of the Rings" is also in Oscar contention for Directing, for Peter Jackson's efforts; Best Actor in a Supporting Role, for Ian McKellen's portrayal of the wizard Gandalf; as well as in 10 secondary categories, including Art Direction, Cinematography and Costume Design. The first installment in the film trilogy based on the novels of J.R.R. Tolkien is also up for the Music (Song) Oscar, for Enya, Nicky Ryan and Roma Ryan's "May It Be." Other nominees in that category are Sting's "Until" from "Kate & Leopold"; Randy Newman's "If I Didn't Have You" from "Monsters, Inc."; Diane Warren's "There You'll Be" from "Pearl Harbor" and Paul McCartney's "Vanilla Sky" from the Tom Cruise movie of the same name.

Will Smith's role as former heavyweight champ Muhammad Ali in "Ali" packed enough punch to score him a nod for Actor in a Leading Role, a category that finds him squaring off against Russell Crowe ("A Beautiful Mind"), Sean Penn ("I Am Sam"), Denzel Washington ("Training Day") and Tom Wilkinson ("In the Bedroom").

In the Actress in a Leading Role grouping, Oscar is being courted by Halle Berry ("Monster's Ball"), Judi Dench ("Iris"), Nicole Kidman ("Moulin Rouge"), Sissy Spacek ("In the Bedroom") and Renée Zellweger ("Bridget Jones's Diary").

Animated Feature Film, a category new to this year's Academy Awards, finds "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius," "Monsters, Inc." and "Shrek" up for the inaugural prize.

A complete list of nominees is available on www.oscar.com.

• Enya
• Sting
• Randy Newman
• Paul McCartney

Tom Waits
Photo: Marina Chavez

A simple arithmetic error has resulted in a mistrial in TVT Records' copyright-infringement case against MP3.com.

After learning that jurors awarded TVT millions of dollars less than they intended, a judge declared on Tuesday that a retrial would begin November 5, according to a spokesperson for the record label.

In April, jurors awarded TVT about $300,000 after finding that MP3.com violated the label's copyrights with its My.MP3.com service. But soon after the verdict, jurors told Judge Jed Rakoff that they had dropped a zero in their calculations and had meant to award closer to $3 million.

My.MP3.com allowed users to listen to CDs online if they could prove they possessed (if only temporarily) a physical copy of the CD or bought it from certain online retailers. MP3.com built an electronic library of music, which copyright holders argued it had no right to do. The company ultimately paid multimillion-dollar settlements last year to each of the major record companies and to music publishers. After shutting down for several months, My.MP3.com relaunched in December, though with a much smaller catalog of songs and little major-label material. Tom Waits, Randy Newman and other songwriters recently filed their own copyright-infringement suit against MP3.com because of its service (see "Ann And Nancy Wilson, Tom Waits, Randy Newman Sue MP3.com").

Vivendi Universal, parent company of the Universal Music Group, recently bought MP3.com. Vivendi said in a statement that it doesn't expect the TVT suit to affect its plans for the company. An MP3.com spokesperson did not return a call for comment on the retrial.

TVT's artists include Sevendust, Tha Eastsidaz and Guided by Voices.

• Tom Waits
• Randy Newman

Tom Waits
Photo: Sony

Tom Waits, Randy Newman and Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson have launched the latest legal salvo against online music site MP3.com, asking for $40 million in a copyright infringement lawsuit.

Like prior lawsuits by record labels and publishers, the suit from the four songwriters focuses on MP3.com's "My.MP3.com" service. When it launched, My.MP3.com allowed users to listen to CDs online if they proved that they at least temporarily possessed a physical copy of the CD, or bought it through certain online retailers.

MP3.com made the service work by building an electronic library of music, which copyright holders argued they had no right to do. The company ultimately paid multimillion dollar lawsuit settlements last year to each of the major record companies, as well as to music publishers. After shutting down for several months, My.MP3.com relaunched in December, though with a much smaller catalog of songs and little major label material.

Waits, Newman and the Wilson sisters filed their suit because they are among the relatively few artists who own the publishing rights to their songs, according to their lawyer, Bruce Van Dalsem. "I think anyone who owns something and has someone taking it who's not entitled ... would be upset," Van Dalsem said Tuesday (May 8). "This is their life's work." Other artists who own their publishing rights are discussing the possibility of joining the suit, according to Van Dalsem.

A spokesperson for MP3.com said the company would not comment on the lawsuit until it has a chance to look over the complaint.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, cites 270 songs by the four writers, including the contents of Waits' Mule Variations (1999), Newman's Little Criminals (1977) and Heart's Bebe Le Strange (1980).

(For complete coverage of online music, check out MTV News' "Napster Files.")

• Heart
• Tom Waits
• Randy Newman

Fresh off the success of her recent live album, singer Sarah McLachlan has now teamed up with veteran songwriter Randy Newman for a new song in the upcoming computer-animated film, "Toy Story 2."

-- David Basham

• Sarah McLachlan
• Randy Newman